Inconceivable
by ElizabethAnne1
Summary: What does it take to finally see what's been right in front of you all along? Steph has a question to ask that will test the limits of a lifelong friendship. Babe, AU, definitely M.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay lovelies**, **I felt like posting something today for Christmas. And because Chapter 1 is a wee bit angsty, I'm posting Chapter 2 at the same time. Expect this to update once a week from here on out. **

**I've been editing this like a mofo for the last six months and am up to chapter 18 as of right now. I'm hoping I get it completed before we're caught up, but as we all know, I suck at completing stories. So, I'll just promise to try my best. How's that?**

**I hope you're all enjoying your holidays, whatever you celebrate!**

**Oh how I wish they were mine! But sadly they belong to JE and she refuses to make them do what I want, so I write them doing fun things and then post it here for you all to read.**

**Hope you like it. **

SPOV

"…Coming up this half hour, _co-parenting without the relationship, the new trend in child rearing…" _The news anchor had gone on with other headlines, but had just touched on something that I'd been fixated on for the last six months or so. Having a baby. The only problem was, I was single, very single, and the only person I would want to father my child would think I was crazy for asking him. I was pretty sure "hey best buddy, can I have some of your sperm so I can finally have a baby?" wasn't something you ask your lifelong friend for. At the age of 34 my fertile years were fast slipping away and I was seriously getting concerned that I may never have a baby. I know there's adoption and fostering, but I wanted the whole deal, the peeing on a test stick, the round belly, feeling him or her kick. I wanted to be able to nurse my child and know that my body was nourishing him or her. Maybe these feelings were normal for a woman my age, but the intensity with which I felt them was startling. My biological clock was ticking so loudly it made my vision blur when I walked by the baby department at Target!

I have my dream job as a forensic scientist. I have a wonderful family, my mom is kind of a pain in the ass, but she means well. I have a cute little house, with a backyard big enough for a swing set. A car that was two payments shy of being paid off, and a nice size nest egg in the bank. I was pretty proud of the fact that I'd managed all of that on my own, too. The only thing missing was someone to liven up that house. I had just finished up a massive project at work, so I'd been working crazy long hours. With the publication of the study I'd been working on, I now had the ability to scale my workweek back to a human pace. The lab I worked for had an amazing maternity leave allowance, not to mention that I had many vacation hours banked. Right now was the best possible time to try to get pregnant.

At my age, the dateable man pool was fast evaporating though. There was only one viable candidate anyway. It was either him, or a sperm bank, the very idea of not knowing my child's father made me shudder though. So, what's a girl to do when there's no willing daddy material around? You go online and check out your options.

Yet again, I was looking through a horrifyingly long list of sperm banks and fertility clinics when the aforementioned best friend let himself in my front door. Carlos and I had been friends since we were in kindergarten together. At the time my mother had despaired that my best friend was a boy, but one flash of his dimples and she just about melted. Within minutes she was baking him cookies and acting like he was the son she never had.

"Hey, Babe, we going for dinner or what?" He looked askance at my sloppy sweats and socks ensemble.

"Yeah, I got busy doing something. Sorry. Give me a sec to change and we'll head out."

"Sure, go ahead, we're only going for pizza."

I left him in the living room and ran upstairs to rummage through my closet. I pulled out my favorite jeans and a sweater and threw them on, grabbed the first pair of shoes I laid my hands on, checked my hair and bounced back down the stairs.

"Hey, did it get colder outside, because it was…" I trailed off when I saw him sitting in front of my computer…that I'd left on the website of a nearby fertility clinic.

_Fuuuucccckkk!_

Unfortunately, this didn't even rank in the top ten embarrassing things that have happened in front of Carlos. He can handle it. Maybe.

What I wasn't ready for, was to feel shame. I don't know why I felt shame that my friend would know I was this desperate to have a baby. Judging people isn't his style. He's a listener, through and through. So much so, he used the GI bill after he was discharged from the army to finish his Psychology degree and he became a therapist. He was a really good one too.

He turned to look at me, his face unduly angry.

"Steph? A fertility clinic? What's going on?"

"I think that's pretty obvious, I want to have a baby," I replied somewhat snottily. My back instantly up.

"So, what? You're going to get a vial of some stranger's spunk and get pregnant? Or where you going to get back with Morelli?" He was red-faced and very nearly yelling at me and I didn't appreciate it.

"What the fuck is your problem? You're a man! You can make a baby any old time you want, as long as you can get it up! You could be Hugh Heffner's age and get someone knocked up for Christ's sake! I've only got a few years left before my fucking ovaries shrivel up and I'm done being able to conceive. Is it so unusual for a woman to start having maternal feelings when she's getting close to forty?" I ran out of steam towards the end of my tirade and collapsed back onto the couch. "Do you think I'd be a bad mother?" I asked quietly, "Is that why you're pissed?" I didn't usually have problems with self-esteem, but this kind of anger was very rarely seen in him, something had to be triggering it.

"No!" He said vehemently. "I think you'd be a kickass mom, I'm pissed that you'd consider having a complete stranger's baby."

"Yeah, because there's so many guys beating down my door. Carlos I've been too busy to even go on a date in the last year. Let alone find the father of my future children."

"You made time for me tonight," he replied.

"Fine, Okay then, leave. I'll go get slutted up and go cruise the bars. Maybe I can find the man of my dreams tonight."

_Man, was I being a bitch, or what?_

He stared at me stonily, silently. We hadn't argued like this since I was dating Joe. They had never really gotten along; Carlos had never thought that Joe was good enough for me.

His face softened after a beat and he came and sat beside me. "Don't you want to wait until you're with someone? It's a lot to take on alone, Steph. There'll be this tiny little person, who is completely reliant on you for everything. I know you can afford it and that you have a lot to offer a kid. But, didn't you break up with Morelli because you didn't want to get married and have a bunch of babies?"

"No, I broke up with him becauseI couldn't stomach the idea of having _his _babies and being tied to his crack-pot family for the rest of my life. I loved him very much, I still do. We're just not meant to be together." I scrubbed my hands over my face and took a deep breath. "How long am I supposed to wait? I'm ready now. I only want one baby, not a million. This isn't a whim, Carlos. I've been ready for a long time and I've researched the hell out of it and I'll do it alone if I have to."

"So you're willing to put up with all the hormone shots and being injected with a stranger's semen for however long it takes to get pregnant?"

"I would do that if I have to, yes. But I would prefer it not be a stranger, no." I started feeling queasy, just knowing what my next words were going to be.

"Then whose?" My mouth clamped shut and refused to open, so I just stared at him until I saw understanding dawn. He slumped back on the couch next to me, looking completely stunned.

"Me?" I nodded. "You want me to give you a baby? Steph, you know I love you, but… don't you think this is asking a lot?"

"Look, I know I'm kind of springing this on you suddenly. I wasn't going to ask you because I didn't think you'd want to. Can we just go eat? We can talk about it then."

"I don't know if I'm up for that anymore, can we just order in? This seems like something that'll have us arguing again."

"Fine, yeah, go ahead and call it in, whatever you want I'm fine with. I'm going to go change." He stood and paced to the kitchen, his back to me, scrolling through his phone.

I changed back into my tank top and sweats and barefooted it back to the living room. Worried that I had just fucked up nearly thirty years of friendship. What right did I have to ask him to donate his swimmers? What if he wanted to wait for the right woman to come along and give him the love he deserved and a home and babies?

I knew better than to think that if he did this for me, and we succeeded, that he wouldn't be part of the baby's life. I don't think he would ever turn away from me, let alone a child we created together. We had been attached at the hip for so long I couldn't imagine my life without him in it. The time he spent in the Army was really tough. I had missed him way more than I thought I would. My mom had said, a few years ago, that maybe my friendship with him was the reason that I seemed unable to commit to anyone. I didn't think that was true, I just hadn't met _The One _yet. I mean, yeah, I'd crushed on Carlos in high school, but I was a hormonal teenager and he grew into his gangly arms and legs really, really well. You'd have to be blind not to notice. But we'd never done anything inappropriate with each other. Now I'd gone and asked him a question that had the potential to destroy our friendship.

He was sitting on the couch, head bowed, elbows on knees, staring unseeingly at the floor.

"Carlos, look, forget I said anything. Please don't worry about it. It'll happen eventually. Right? I'm sorry that I asked this of you. Please? Please forget I asked? It's not your problem that my clock is ticking and I'm feeling lonely. I don't want you to think about it anymore, okay? Please answer me." I was on my knees in front of him, trying to get him to look at me. I put my hand under his chin; I needed to see his eyes. "Please look at me? Please?" He just looked at me blankly. I dropped my hand and scooted backward until I felt the armchair at my back. I sat on the floor and hugged my knees into my chest. "I get it. I'm sorry. You have to talk to me though. Don't shut me out." He looked at me and opened his mouth but nothing came out.

We sat like that until the delivery guy rang the bell.

I had completely lost my appetite so I threw a napkin and plate on top of the pizza box and laid it on the coffee table and walked upstairs. Wanting to be in the shower before the imminent break down came. Turning the water to hot, I stepped in, feeling my throat burn with the need to sob. I sat down in the tub and let the water cascade down, drowning out any sounds that slipped out with the tears.

Why did I have to bring this up now? I'm so fucking stupid sometimes. I have a full life. I can't have become this lonely, desperate person overnight. Why the hell had I asked _him _to help me?

I just knew that every time I saw my friend Connie and her gaggle of little ones I became incredibly jealous. That feeling wasn't alleviated when I was at work and would see Dr. Boulanger, my boss, and his wife Lula heading out to see her OB, his hands never more than inches away from her beautifully rounded belly.

I never expected him to actually agree to it, but the devolution of our discussion to obdurate silence and the rejection it implied caused a pain in me so sharp it was physically palpable.

**AN: Can you guess why she's a mess? She just doesn't see it yet. For really smart people these two are a little dopey at first.**

**Let me know what you thought, then go read chapter 2!**

**Love,**

**EA xoxo**


	2. Chapter 2

**I'm only going to do one disclaimer for the whole story. You all know I didn't create these characters, just the plot belongs to me.**

**See you at the bottom…**

RPOV

She thinks I can't hear her in there. I knew what she was going to do the minute she left the room. Now I'm sitting here listening to her sob her heart out on the other side of the door. I felt like a total asshole for letting her get this upset. What she's asking for is a big deal, but I've wanted kids for as long as I can remember and I do love her. Maybe not like a husband, but don't all solid relationships depend on trust and respect? We had that. I had never actually gone out looking for the right woman; maybe this was my only chance to have a child.

I pushed the door open and could see her through the water splattered glass door. Sitting on the floor of the tub with her head on her knees, still hiccupping, but a little calmer.

"Steph." I said quietly, trying not to scare her. Her head snapped up and we stared at each other through glass. "I'm sorry, I just needed a few minutes to think this through. Do you think you can come out of there now and talk to me? Please?"

"Hand me a towel from the closet?" Her voice was rough, hoarse from crying. Steph wasn't a big crier, so her breaking down like this was definitely indicative of how much this meant to her. I could probably count the times she's cried in front of me on one hand.

I grabbed one and handed it over the shower door. "I'll be downstairs." I said, turning to go.

"No, just wait in my room, I'm going to bed in a few minutes." She sounded so tired and defeated and it was all my fault.

I trudged into her room and sat in her reading chair in the corner. The little table next to the chair had at least four novels that she'd been meaning to read for a while now, sitting on it, spines still un-cracked.

She came into the room wearing an old, short robe and toweling her hair dry, her sadness evident in her posture. She crossed to the closet and pulled on some thin work-out pants, turned her back to me and dropped her robe. I couldn't help but look at all that exposed skin. She may have been my lifelong friend, but she was incredibly beautiful and completely unaware of it. Also, I'm a guy.

She pulled on one of my old army t-shirts and climbed wearily into bed. I went and sat next to her, needing badly to make her feel better. If I had just talked to her instead of shutting down, she wouldn't be this upset right now.

"Steph, I'm so sorry about the way I reacted. It was just so unexpected. That was definitely the last thing I expected to come out of your mouth."

"Carlos. Please," she muttered tiredly. "I'm begging you, forget I said anything to you. It doesn't matter anymore. I'm sorry I asked you. I've just been so lonely lately, and all of my friends have these beautiful babies and they're constantly talking about how much in love with them, they are. I want that; I want to love a child with all my heart. I want to be there to kiss their skinned knees and be fiercely protective. I want to give him or her everything I have and hear them say 'I love you, mom,' in return. But what I don't want is for you to feel obligated to help me out because you're my eternal savior and I'm this sad sack. Just forget it. I should have never put you on the spot like that."

"Babe stop apologizing, we'll stop talking about it. I just need to know one thing. Why me?"

"Because you're brave and strong and the best person I know." She answered quickly. "And…you're the only one I wanted to ask when I started thinking about it." She said quietly, resting her forehead on her bent knees.

I felt a bloom of affection mixed with some amazement that she could still feel that way about me after my asshole performance downstairs. "Thank-you for saying that. I'm sorry I was such a dick." I pulled her close and kissed her forehead. "We'll work it out, Steph. We always do."

She pulled away after a beat and laid down. I stood to take off and she touched my arm, "Can you stay over? I really don't want to be alone tonight."

"Sure, are you working tomorrow?"

"No the project is finished and written up. I have the weekend off for once."

"Yeah, me too. We can go do something if you want."

"Okay." She sounded so fucking sad. Usually Steph was a happy, vivacious person, especially with me. She'd been pretty subdued lately, but I thought she was just tired because of the research project. She had been spending at least twelve hours a day at the lab for pretty much the last year. Some fucking therapist I am. She's been wrestling with this the whole time.

I stood and unzipped my pants and noticed her eyes go wide.

"Don't worry, I'll leave the boxers on. I can't sleep with all these clothes on. I always feel trapped and claustrophobic."

We had, in the past, shared a bed just to sleep. But Steph was a snuggler; she'd have at least a leg slung over me by morning. She was like a furnace while she slept too. If I didn't remove some clothes now, I'd be dying by the time she migrated over to me.

"Goodnight Carlos." She mumbled, already half asleep by the time I got under the covers.

"Goodnight babe." I whispered. I watched as her breathing slowly evened out and her face relaxed. I had always thought she was gorgeous with her pale skin and big blue eyes. Her lashes so long they brushed her cheeks. She had full pouty lips and her cheeks were usually a pretty pink, instead of chalky white like they were right now. Sometimes I'd look at her and feel a tug deep inside; I just couldn't put a name to it, deep affection, maybe. Right now though, I knew that I had to tell her that I'd do it. If she wanted to have a baby, then I wanted to be the one to give it to her. She'd planted that seed in my head and it was the only thing I could think of now.

When I had first seen that she was looking at fertility clinics I had gotten irrationally angry, thoughts flying through my head. Was she going to use donor sperm? Morelli's? The white hot rage that immediately flowed through me at the idea of that asshole getting his hands on her again, of him being _inside_ her again made me feel like I was going to pitch the computer across the fucking room.

I wanted to see her body change and grow, all to nourish and nurture _our _child. I wanted to put my hand on her belly and feel the baby kick. I wanted to be there when they told her the gender. And, right at this moment, laying in her bed, her warm body clothed in my shirt, inches from me, I wanted to help put that baby inside her the old fashioned way. Really, really badly. I didn't want to ejaculate into a cup and have someone analyze my semen. I had no clue how I was going to bring up that possibility. I've heard some really bad things about the hormone therapies they use during artificial insemination. All I knew right now was, I was hard as a rock thinking about getting my best friend pregnant.

How sick is that?

I slept like total shit. I would drift off for a second and then snap back to consciousness with the enormity of what had taken place. Holy shit, my best friend told me she was ready to create a tiny human and admitted that she wants me to help her.

The sun was peeking through her curtains by the time she finally stirred. She was, as predicted, draped over me. I was also reacting to her closeness, she was just so warm and soft. She made a soft humming sound and moved into the crook of my arm even more, her face buried in my neck, every breath she took sending an involuntary shiver down my side. All my focus on the fact that her tits were squashed into my side and her pussy was hot against my thigh.

_Jesus Christ, I just thought the words tits and pussy in conjunction with Stephanie!_

Since just before puberty, I'd actively tried to stop myself from thinking about how beautiful she was becoming. But right now, with her all over me and my internal revelation last night, I was as horny as I could ever remember being. I was fucking vibrating with it. I should have gotten up and gone downstairs, I just couldn't make myself do it. The only thing I wanted to feel right now, was her against me. Without my permission my hand had migrated to her right ass cheek and I realized I was actually pushing her more tightly against my leg. Her knee shifted and she brought her leg higher making contact with my aching cock. Her breathing sped up and she slowly opened her eyes, making me freeze guiltily.

_Holy shit, I'm actually feeling up my best friend._

Still, my hand refused to move, or even adjust the pressure with which I was holding her to me. Her pupils dilated and a tiny moan slipped out of her open mouth and all I wanted to do was fuck her senseless. I was bombarded with mental images of the two of us in every position imaginable.

_Shit_

I was to the point that if she moved her leg again, I felt like I'd come in my shorts. She had me burning with the need to take her.

"Please don't move yet Steph. Please? Just let me calm down." I begged.

She gave me all of a minute before she scrambled backwards off the bed and flew into her bathroom.

What a fucking mess!

She came back into the room a few minutes later, sitting down on the far side of the bed with her back to me.

"I'll do it," I said. "I want to do it. Not just for you, but for me too. You're my best friend and I can't imagine finding someone I'd want to have kids with more." There I said it, and I meant every single word. Judging by the fact that she couldn't get away from my hard-on fast enough before, I wasn't going to broach the subject of how I wanted us to make the baby. I'd leave that up to her.

"Thank-you." She whispered. I scooted closer and put my hand on her back. She sank back and fit her body to the front of mine and sighed. "Thank-you Carlos. I'll make an appointment at the fertility clinic next week."

"Next week?"

"That's when I ovulate."

_Wow, we were really going to do this._

I pulled her in tighter and with her warm and soft against me I was finally able to fall asleep.

**AN: I really hope you all like this. I've been working on it for months now and I am incredibly attached to these two. So, I'm going to ask a favor of you. I always say, let me know what you thought, but I really mean it this time. Please, take a second to review?**

**Next chapter will be up New Year's Day.**

**Merry Christmas,**

**Love,**

**EA xoxo**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: I've read this chapter at least twenty times and I wanted to add something to make it a little longer, but I like it the way it is. I hope you do too.**

**See you at the bottom.**

**Only the plot is mine. **

RPOV

"Babe are you sure this is the way you want to do this?" She swallowed hard and nodded, looking at the sign next to the office door.__

_**Bright Beginnings Fertility Clinic**_

"Yes, I'm sure. C'mon, let's go." She tugged on my hand and we made our way inside.

There was a few women and their partners scattered around the waiting room. Most appearing to be in varying stages of pregnancy. Steph looked around and smiled brightly up at me. I returned it and squeezed her hand.

Doing this had been pretty much the only topic of conversation over the last couple of days. Primarily, I had to make clear my level of involvement. I would not simply be a sperm donor here. This would be my baby too, we were doing this together. Steph had wholeheartedly agreed. She knew better than to think I wouldn't want to be an actual father.

We were ushered into a plush office almost immediately. The petite woman behind the desk stood and offered her hand. "Good morning, I'm Dr. Daniels. I understand that you're here for a consult on artificial insemination." She asked cheerfully.

"Yes, we're ready for a baby," Steph told her and introduced us. She sounded a lot more confident in this place than I felt.

"That's wonderful! How long have you been trying?" She asked, clicking her pen and flipping open a folder.

"We haven't yet. We're not actually a couple. I just wanted to go over my options."

"I see, well here's some information on the procedures we offer here and the general out-of-pocket cost for each one." She handed Steph a small binder, she flicked through it quickly and handed it to me. On the cover was a professional shot of a beautiful blue-eyed baby…Hmmmm. I flipped through the procedures listed, feeling my apprehension rise. If we did this, like this, and the simple insemination didn't work, ugh, some of the alternatives were incredibly invasive and painful sounding. To top it off the price list was astronomical. I guess the pretty baby on the cover was supposed to sway you if you balked at the cost. We were both successful and I'd already told her I would be paying at least half of all the bills, but did we really need this intervention? The doctor and Steph were talking while I was absorbed in the info in front of me. When I got to the page listing possible side effects I had to interject.

"Excuse me, Steph, Dr. Daniels, can we talk about the side effects of the drugs for a second? Hot flashes, mood swings, nausea, negative affectation of the uterine lining? Call me crazy, but isn't that a necessary part of the whole process, that lining?"

The doctor nodded. "Of course, but…"

"What about the ovarian cyst thing, or the higher likelihood of ectopic pregnancy? Both are very bad, correct?"

"Yes Mr. Manoso, they are, but as it says right there, those are extremely rare complications. A natural pregnancy could result in many of the same complications." I opened my mouth to respond, but Steph grabbed my arm, her nails digging in slightly.

"Carlos, shut up!" She whisper-yelled.

"I'm just looking out for you!" I hissed back. She glared at me for a second, then turned to the doctor.

"Is it okay if we take this with us?" She snatched the book out of my hands and held it up.

"Of course, feel free. I'm sure you have a lot to discuss. Call reception when you're ready to get started."

"I will, thank-you for your time." Steph stood and shook hands with the doctor, turned and gave me her pissy face and pretty much flounced from the room.

"It was nice to meet you," I said to the woman, and high-tailed it out. I didn't catch up with Steph until I got to the car. Thankfully, I had driven, because there was no doubt in my mind that she would have left without me. I beeped it unlocked and she climbed in without a word. I started it up and took off toward her house. Hopefully the verbal beating I was about to get wouldn't begin until we got there. We really knew how to piss each other off.

We sat in huffy silence the entire way there.

She shot out of the car as soon as I pulled into her driveway and was through her front door before I'd even taken the key out of the ignition. I seriously considered going home and letting her cool off, but decided that would be extraordinarily cowardly. I trudged up the path like a man on the way to his execution. Deservedly so, I guess. I know I should probably have shut the fuck up in that office and waited until we got home to voice my concerns, but seeing the danger that my best friend would be putting herself in, just to have a stranger stick the scientific equivalent of a turkey baster up her vagina, pissed me off.

I entered the house and heard her banging things around in the kitchen. I leaned against the doorway and watched her. She was radiating irate tension from her clenched jaw to the taut line of her shoulders.

"Babe, I'm sorry, okay? I'm just worried that something bad is going to happen to you. I'll do it if this is what you really want, but c'mon, did you see those side effects?" She turned to stare at me incredulously.

"Of course I have! I'm not a fucking moron! I've researched the hell out of this. Do you know that by the age of 30 most women's fertility is starting to drop and by 35 the likelihood of getting pregnant at all has dropped from 63% to 50%? I'm 34 Carlos and my clock is ticking so loudly that it sounds like Big Fucking Ben in my head. If I don't do this now, I may never have a baby of my own. I know I can adopt if necessary, but I need to give my body a chance first. I want to get fat and bitchy and moan and complain about heartburn and morning sickness. I want to call you in the middle of the night because the baby is making me want a pint of chunky monkey right that very second. But most of all, I want to push that baby out of me and know that my body let her or him grow into a chubby newborn. I want to nurse my child and have it be the center of my universe. I'm so appreciative of your offer of partnership and support, but if you're going to muscle your way into every single part of this and tell me what to do, well…you know where the door is."

I am such an asshole! If I fuck this up, she's going to end up using donor sperm, and her being pregnant with somebody else's baby is just…not going to happen.

I moved closer to her and took her hands. "I know how badly you want this. You don't need to rationalize it to me. Hell, I want this too. It's all I've been able to think about for the last week. I want to help you, I'm sorry for being an intrusive ass." I had this unshakable image of her round with my child, breasts swollen and glowing with happiness. I didn't just want this anymore, I needed for this to happen, with her.

Now, let me preface my next statement with this, my best friend was a sexy, sexy woman. She had a ton of crazy, curly hair, bright blue eyes, pouty lips and an amazing body. I had, from time to time entertained some very private and very naughty fantasies starring her. We had never been intimate, but I'd be lying if I said that I hadn't thought about it. Add to that the thought of me putting a baby inside her the old fashioned way, well…

"Let's just try, before you start with all the shots and stuff, okay?" The words were out of my mouth before I took the time to think about the wisdom of saying them out loud. The look on her face made me want to catch those words and shove them back down my throat until I choked on them.

We just looked at each other in shocked silence for a beat. She recovered first, clearing her throat she said, "You want to have sex with me?" She looked like she couldn't believe she just said that.

"It would hardly be a sacrifice, Babe."

"What do you mean?"

I waved my hand up and down in her direction. "Look at you, it wouldn't be like falling on a sword for the greater good. And if it saves you the pain of those shots and all that other shit, then yeah, I want to have sex with you." She tried not to smile, but she lost the battle and grinned anyway.

"Really Carlos? How long have you luuuuussssted after me?" She purred, batting those baby blues at me. I knew she was fucking with me, but it was actually pretty sexy and I had to swallow around the lump in my throat. Her eyes widened at my reaction and her mouth dropped open in shock. Me finding her sexy should not be news to her as we'd woken up the other day with me dry humping her leg.

"Are you serious right now?" She asked incredulously.

"No." Yes. "But I really do think we should try for a couple of months before you go through all that stuff. I know it'll be awkward and everything, but better a little awkwardness now than any of those side effects happening to you. C'mon Steph, let's try?"

She stared at me for a solid two minutes before her face cleared, "I guess it wouldn't hurt to try. I should probably fight you on this but I'm supposed to ovulate in the next three days, so if we don't do it now, we'll have to wait another month."

_Holy shit!_

"So, when do we do this?"

"Tomorrow night and probably again in the morning, maybe tomorrow night? They tell couples to have sex as much as possible right around ovulation. And your sperm should stay alive for at least three days."

_Holy shit…_

"So I should stay here tomorrow or do you want to come to my house?"

"Here?" I nodded, I needed to get out of here. I had three patients to see today and I was getting very turned on thinking about this. Messed up, huh?

"What time should I be here?"

"Around 6?" She replied.

"Do you want to go to dinner first?"

"NO! That would make it too much like a date, I'll pick something up on the way home."

"Okay, are there rules with this?"

"Like what?"

"You know, no kissing, no touching a specific spot? You know, so it's not so personal?" I thought for sure she'd say no kissing, but she surprised me by shaking her head.

"This is about as personal as it gets. We're going to have sex with each other to intentionally get pregnant. I think we've crossed most boundaries with just this conversation alone. Once I am pregnant, we'll stop though, right? Go back to normal?"

"Yes."

"I don't think we should see other people while we're doing this though. It would be too weird."

I nodded my head vigorously. "I agree. I have to get going. I have a patient in an hour. I'll be here by 6 tomorrow?"

"Okay…Umm…Carlos, when was the last time you ejaculated?"

_Holy shit!_

"Why?" This could be the first time I've been embarrassed discussing something sexual with her.

"My research says that you should refrain from ejaculating for a few days to ensure optimal sperm count." Even with her retreating into mediclese she was getting a reaction out of my dick. I know she was trying to keep it impersonal, but she was asking me when the last time I came was and the answer was going to be embarrassing.

"Uhh…this morning." _Thinking about you. _"In the shower."

"I don't need a play-by-play! Jeez! Okay. Just try not to do it until…we…you know." She broke eye contact with me and looked over my shoulder. Her cheeks stained a pretty pink.

"Christ, okay. I have to go now."

"Yeah. See you tomorrow."

I turned and left, completely stunned by this turn of events.

**AN: These two are so goofy. **

**Buckle up for next week ;-)**

**So, I've been re-reading (again!) the books, well more like skimming them for parts with Ranger in them and I feel like writing a little plot-less smut. I would like if you all could tell me which fade-to-black scenario from the books you'd like me to expand on. It doesn't have to be a time they were actually together, it could be one of the gazillion times they were flirting and then, nothing. **

**My vote would be for the time, in Finger Licking Fifteen, when Steph was staying at Ranger's and he comes home after working all night and tells her, "Either get out of the bed or else take your clothes off… I'm not in the mood to compromise." Her response was entirely different than what mine would've been. I like him when he's a little bit of an asshole. Or… when, same book, she figures out his entire mess and she's so excited she jumps on him when he's sleeping and then stops him when he starts touching her. **

**But that's just me, I'll write whatever gets the most votes. Be specific though. Oh, and let me know what you thought of this chapter!**

**Happy new year, everyone!**

**Love,**

**EA xoxo**


	4. Chapter 4

**I'll just leave this here.**

**I don't own them, but I do own this plot.**

**Oh! There's some (a lot of) grown up language and actions down there. If that offends thee, kindly mosey on by. **

RPOV

The next 24 hours passed in a blur of stupefied disbelief. My distraction so apparent, even my patients noticed and asked if I was okay.

6:01 pm the following evening found me on her doorstep, nervous as all get out and clutching a huge bunch of sunflowers, her favorite, and my overnighter slung over my shoulder. I unlocked her door and found her just inside her foyer, looking supremely uncomfortable, but very pretty in.

"Oh, wow! These are gorgeous, thanks." She said as she ushered me in. She seemed so… shy; this wasn't like her at all. She took the flowers and got a vase from the cabinet in the kitchen.

"Steph, look, we don't have to do it this way, okay?" I said as I watched her trim the stems from the kitchen doorway. Seeing her nervousness, I had to give her an out, even if I really didn't want her to take it.

"No, this is the simplest way, right? You hungry? I picked up Chinese." I could smell it from here, but there was no way I could eat right now. I'd lain awake all night thinking about this and to say I was excited was a massive understatement.

"No, I can wait until later." She was shocked by that, I didn't usually say no to food. "I mean, we don't have to get right to it if you don't want to. I just thought it would be better if we did it and then we could relax after, you know…I'm not trying to make it sound like I want to get it over with. Shit… You know what I'm saying right?" She laughed out loud at me, finally relaxing. I don't know if I'd ever been this nervous around her, ever. At least it had served to bring my Steph back though.

"C'mon stud, let's go upstairs." She laughed some more and tugged me up to her room. She stopped at the threshold and seemed to gather herself, she turned and looked up at me. "You know I love you, right?"

"I do." I nodded.

"I can't thank you enough for doing this. This is something I can't ever repay you for. Thank-you Carlos." She leaned up and placed a soft kiss on my lips. I felt that sweet little kiss all the way to my toes. I drew in a deep breath and cradled her face with my hands and pulled her lips back to mine, a real kiss, tongue and all.

_Goddamn…_

I felt the vibration of her moan in my mouth and was overwhelmed with the sudden urge to devour her. She wrapped her arms around my waist and she was flush against me and I could feel everything, her breasts pressed against me and her belly against my already hard dick. I ran my hands down her back to her pert little ass, pressing her gently into me. I groaned at the contact, it seemed like I'd been hard and aching forever.

I slid the zipper of her dress down and slipped it off her shoulders. God, she was beautiful. I'd seen her in many a bikini over the years, but the lacy underwear she was wearing right now was killing me.

"Turn around," I told her. I didn't mean to be so authoritative with her, but she did as I asked and I was rewarded with the back view. Black lace panties that showed nearly all of the most perfect ass I'd ever seen, flaring out beautifully from her slender waist.

"So pretty, Steph. Do you wear stuff like this all the time?" She shook her head no, "You're wearing this for me?" She nodded yes and I felt my dick stiffen even more.

"Look at me." She turned again and she didn't look nervous or uncomfortable anymore. She looked turned on, her cheeks flushed a dark pink and her breath coming heavy. "Steph, it's been over a year since you last has sex?" I asked again, she nodded. "Shit, Babe, you're going to be so tight." Okay, I hadn't meant to say that out loud. We had both had physicals and been screened for STDs the week before we'd gone to the fertility center and the thought of being inside her bare was ramping me up, big time.

"Take off your bra." She drew in a breath, but again, somewhat surprisingly, complied, revealing the part of her I had never seen before.

"Fucking perfect_…_"

I couldn't stand not touching her anymore, so I moved to stand right in front of her again and settled my hands at the top of her ass. She lifted her hands and started working on the buttons of my shirt; she was so close to me that I could feel her nipples brushing against me as she worked her way down the placket. She yanked my shirt out of my pants with quite a bit of force and pulled it off me, dropping it to the floor. She reached up to kiss me again and I grabbed her face and crashed her to my mouth.

It felt like someone had set me on fire, I was fucking burning for her.

The amount of need that flared within me so consuming that it was a little frightening. From the way her hands were all over me, I was guessing she felt it too. I'd never imagined that there would be this much passion between us.

I nudged her backwards to the bed until she had to either sit down or fall. She sat and I dropped to my knees in front of her and tugged off her heels. I dug my fingers under the waistband of her underwear and worked them down her legs, my eyes locked with hers

_Holy shit! We're really going to do this._

"Open your legs Babe, I want to see you." She moved her knees apart to reveal a neatly groomed tiny patch of curls atop bare pink lips.

_Fuck me, she's already wet. _

I could see it glistening in the low light. Before I knew what was happening, my finger had made it to her slit and ran across the wet smoothness there. She inhaled sharply and I snapped my head up to see her reaction. Her pupils were almost completely swallowing the usual pretty blue. Her eyes, heavy lidded and her lips were parted with her panting breath. She looked like a fucking goddess and I was overcome with the need to see her come apart. I worked my finger into her folds to find her clit and she let loose a loud moan. I pushed her upper body backward to lie on the bed and moved my finger to circle her entrance. The hand at her shoulder trailing down to her gorgeous breast. It was full and soft, with the hardest little pink nipple just begging for attention. Leaning down_,_ I flicked that nipple with my tongue at the same time as I slid that finger into her tight, holy shit, so fucking tight, heat. She was moaning like crazy and I took a second to look at her there, riding my finger and trying to push that tit further into my mouth. I slipped another finger in and rubbed the pads against the front wall of her pussy. I let my thumb circle her stiff clit and then I really started to pump my fingers in her. I could feel her starting to pulse, so I quickly darted my head from her breast to her clit and sucked it gently between my lips. And she fucking screamed as she came! I've always loved doing this to women. I love sex in general, but making a woman incoherent with ecstasy, that'll make you feel 20 feet tall. Doing this to Steph, made me steel hard.

I watched her lying there panting, with her arm over her eyes as I stood up and unzipped my pants, letting them and my boxers fall to the ground. She pulled her hand away from her eyes and gaped at me standing there naked.

"Come here," she said, reaching for me.

I climbed onto the bed next to her. "You should be on top first," I told her. I knew I was a little bigger than average and she was so fucking tight, so I wanted for her to set the pace. She hurriedly straddled me, but didn't lower herself yet.

"Steph, look at me." We locked eyes as I aligned us. "Take me in." She held my gaze while she started to slide down.

_Oh my god. Don't come, don't come, don't you fucking come!_

It's definitely never felt like this before. Tight and hot and like a vice on my cock. Her head had fallen backwards about halfway down, but judging by her strangled moans I was thinking it felt good to her too. I seized her hips in my hands. If she moved one little tiny bit, it was definitely going to be over for me.

"Please? Just give me a second?" She just moaned in response, giving me those eyes again.

She waited a beat before whispering, "I have to move, Carlos." I nodded and she carefully leaned down to kiss me letting her hair fell around us, sealing us into a little cocoon. This was way more intense than I had ever imagined.

"Unh…I really need to move now," she whispered.

"Okay." I uttered through gritted teeth. She kissed me one more time and sat upright, bracing her hands on my stomach. I could only watch myself disappear inside her, _inside Stephanie! _ I let my hands trace up to her beautiful tits and thumbed those hard little nipples, she moaned and moved faster. I sat up and was suddenly buried so deeply inside her, I put a hand on her hip and the other at the back of her neck. Her tits deliciously rubbing against me with every movement. She had her arms around my neck, holding me close, moaning in my ear, whispering my name.

_Why the fuck hadn't we done this before? _

She shifted harder on me and she was getting progressively louder, so I wedged a hand into the tiny bit of space between us and pinched her slippery clit. She arched backward and I just barely managed to hold on to her as she came really hard, squeezing the hell out of my cock. God! She made the best fucking noises. I grabbed her hips and thrust up into her, once, twice, three times and exploded with a roar.

Collapsing backwards, she fell with me and slumped on my chest.

"Christ! Why haven't we done that before?" I muttered.

"Ummmm, because friends aren't supposed to do that." She said breathlessly, shifting off me to lie on her back. "I have to lay like this for half an hour."

"Yeah, okay." Was my brilliant reply, in my defense, I was hypnotized by her tits. They were shivering ever so slightly with her still labored breath. They really were perfect. Round and firm, with pink tips the same color as her lips…_both sets…_

"Oh my god! What are you doing?" She groaned. My fingers had moved to the breast closest to me and started to pluck at that nipple. "I knew they'd be nice, but these are absolutely perfect Steph. They're so smooth." She batted my hand away.

"Speaking of unexpected, that thing is…pretty big Carlos." She waved her hand in the direction of my cock. I had to grin at that.

"What? Did you think it'd be small? Thanks, Babe. That means a lot to me."

"Shut up. No I didn't really think about the size of your dick before, well, maybe once or twice, but that's it though."

_Holy shit._

"What were you doing when you thought about it?" Her telling me that she's thought about my dick before was making him wake up again.

"Just in passing. You know…" She trailed off with a moan when I couldn't resist anymore and pulled that delicious little nipple back into my mouth. Her hand moved to the back of my head to keep me there and she started to shift restlessly underneath me. Her other hand moved from my shoulder and trailed down my chest and my stomach, it moved lower still and I was now fully hard in anticipation of her actually touching me. She ran her fingertip around the head and then trailed it down the shaft, making me moan around her breast. I really hoped it took a few months for her to get pregnant, because I was feeling a whole lot of things I didn't usually feel. There was a level of emotion going on here that couldn't be found with my previous partners. They were physically satisfying and I respected every one of the women I had slept with, but this was a whole different level of sex. I'd loved this woman for most of my life, she knows all of my secrets, all of the good things I've done, all the bad. Doing this with her meant even more than I thought it would.

She was steadily pumping me now. I guessed I could take that as a go ahead for another round. And Christ, did I ever want to be inside her again.

I moved and settled between her thighs and looked down at her pretty face.

"Again?" I asked.

"Yes," she replied simply. She bent her legs and planted her feet on the mattress and I smoothed a hand down her beautiful body and dragged my fingers down her wet slit.

"Ready?" She nodded and mewled when I pushed a finger inside her. She definitely felt ready, warm and slick and if I could just bury myself in there I'd be a happy man. "Do you always get this wet, Babe? It's so fucking sexy." Apparently my filter had jumped ship when she first kissed me.

She shook her head, "I thought we might need to use lube…unh…I thought that this would be awkward." She sighed as I pulled my finger out and pushed my cock in.

"Doesn't seem to be a problem…fuuuuckk…" I watched her face the whole time I thrust in, I could easily get addicted to this. She was so fucking beautiful right now, eyelids fluttering, mouth open, head tossed back and I couldn't stop myself from trying to get deeper inside her. She was completely wrapped around me and I loved everything we were doing right now.

I just did my best to ignore the whisper of worry in the back of my mind. That maybe this was a line we shouldn't have crossed. I pushed all that away as well as I could and dipped to kiss her. And holy shit, she could kiss! She held onto my face with both hands and slipped her tongue into my mouth, softly stroking mine. I slid my hands underneath her and curled them over her shoulders, holding her to me until there wasn't an inch of space between us and just lost myself in her.

**Don't worry, they're not done yet! We'll hear from Steph next week and finish out their first night ;-) **

**Hope you liked it.**

**Let me know what you thought.**

**Love,**

**EA xoxo**


	5. Chapter 5

**You might want to skip this update if you're averse to reading about procreation attempts. If so, why are you reading in the M rated section?**

**Yep, they're still at it…**

**They don't belong to me, but this plot does. ;)**

SPOV

When he had said he wanted us to try, it had taken me a few seconds to get what he was saying. He wanted us to _try_, as in have sex. He wanted us to have sex.

Holy shit.

The look on his face after he said that though! I could tell that the words had just popped out. The circumspection he'd always shown around others, his careful word choices, usually disappeared around me. I don't think there was any topic that we hadn't discussed over the years. But, he definitely took himself by surprise when he had suggested it.

I had been so nervous when he got to my house tonight and so had he. His discomfort was ultimately what calmed me. Seeing my ultra-confident best friend looking ill-at-ease made me decide to be the strong one this time. It was a role we generally shared, leaning on each other when we each needed it. But obviously, he needed me to take the lead here.

I didn't need to take the lead for long, I felt the change as soon as I kissed him. Unf! The way he kissed me back was just… Heat slashed through me and I couldn't get him naked fast enough.

Huh, who knew?

I can't believe that I had even thought to stash the lube in my bedside table drawer. I had worried that, with our minds set on procreation, the sex would be perfunctory; that I would be dryer than the proverbial hooker in church. I hadn't had that many orgasms in a row ever, not even with Joe, and he had been a wonderful partner. It wasn't just Carlos' physical perfection that made him so attractive though, the connection we'd always shared, flared even stronger when we were together like this. His generous character extended into his skills as a lover, making sure that I orgasmed before him each time (the last time so hard that I'm pretty sure I squirted a little bit) even though me climaxing wasn't essential to conception.

And was I sore! Not that I'd ever spent that much time thinking about Carlos' penis, but I never would've thought he would be that big. Long and thick and actually pretty to look at, and did he ever feel amazing inside me.

And unf, His body… We've been to the beach every summer since we were 5, been to the pool countless times too. I'd seen him develop from a scrawny, gangly teen to a very fit and sculpted man by the time he was discharged from the Army. But looking at him in this context, he was hot, just plain fucking gorgeous!

I rolled and looked at his sleeping form, his incredibly familiar face. He'd always been the one I ran to for everything, to share a secret with, to laugh with, to lay on a blanket and stargaze with on summer nights, to complain about boys to and cry with when he first left for boot camp. The years when he was away were some of the loneliest of my life. Thankfully I was immersed in college and had plenty of friends, but without him, things were just wrong. And now here I am, staring at the face of the boy who has been my best friend since we were in kindergarten and he was in my bed, passed out after doing his best to become the father of my future child. THE FATHER OF MY FUTURE CHILD!

I sat bolt upright, a million thoughts swirling at once. I was sweaty and sticky and reeked of sex, so I slipped into the bathroom and closed the door, making sure it didn't squeak as it shut. I braced my hands on the sink and stared at my reflection in the mirror. My hair was everywhere! I felt a massive knot in the back, probably from my head thrashing around on the pillow. There was bright red splotches of color high on my cheeks, my eyes were wide and sparkling and the grin on my face just wouldn't go away. Looking down further there was a big purple hickey just to the left of my right nipple. Not surprising really considering he was rather fixated on my boobs.

All-in-all I looked rather well fucked and I couldn't really find it within myself to feel too concerned that it was a direct result of sleeping with my best friend. Okay, that was a fib, a big one. I was really worried that this was a mammoth mistake. Somewhere around the time I held his rock hard penis in my hand and gave serious thought to going down on him, I realized that I might have a problem. If I wanted him to knock me up, then why was I thinking about guzzling his baby-makers down the wrong orifice?

I stepped into the hot shower and tried to clear my head. Only to end up reliving the images and sounds from the last two hours while I hacked distractedly at the knot in my hair. It took half a bottle of conditioner and a comb to finally get it straightened out.

Climbing out, I caught my reflection in the mirror again. I turned to the side and examined the profile of my body, imagining what I'd look like if we had been successful. I pooched out my stomach as much as possible. _Blech_! I wasn't going to look good, that was for sure. It would all be worth it in the end though. I wondered if we'd have a girl or a boy. Would she have Carlos' eyes? Would he get my hair?

I dried off quickly and scooted into my room for something to wear. He was still prone in bed, but had shifted over to the space I'd vacated, his hand in the dent left in my pillow. I grabbed his shirt off the floor and made for the kitchen, before my growling stomach woke him up. I pulled the take out containers out of the fridge and spooned heaps of rice and chicken and broccoli onto a plate and stuck it in the microwave. I was bent over digging out a bottle of water from the bottom of the fridge when I felt fingertips run up the back of my leg and continue up under the shirt to cup my whole left butt cheek.

"This is really nice too, Babe." He cupped the other cheek as well and squeezed. I smiled as I stood, only for that smile to dissolve into slack-jawed stupefaction when I realized he was still naked and semi hard standing _right _behind me. I felt a tingle down below, which intensified a hundred fold when his hands snaked around to my belly and moved up to palm my breasts, making my shirt ride up around his arms.

"Jesus, again?" Soreness be damned. I was really hoping he'd bend me over the counter…or the table. Hell, even the wall next to the fridge was looking pretty damn good right about now.

"You've created a monster here, Babe." He pressed his now fully hard cock against my back as he moved my wet hair out of the way and kissed my neck. "I always loved the soap you use, Steph. You smell so fucking good," he groaned into my ear.

I'd never actually felt like jello before, but if he didn't have his hand on my belly right now, pushing me back into him, I would be a big horny puddle on the floor. I took a shaky step to the side, hoping he'd move with me. He did. I planted my hands on the edge of the counter and pressed my ass back against him. His fingers flew to the few buttons I'd bothered with and he yanked his shirt off me. He grabbed my hips and pulled them backwards until I was bent at a 90º angle. What I expected him to do was check my readiness with his finger, no problem there, I was practically dripping and he hadn't even gone near me yet. What I got was his tongue, and not just on my clit like earlier, he pushed it inside and fucked me with it.

"Oh my god! Carlos!" I'd never received oral sex in this position. I felt like I should be embarrassed given that all my parts were on display in my very brightly lit kitchen, but I just couldn't bring myself to care when his fingers got in on the action and rubbed almost too roughly over my little nub. I locked my knees so as not to collapse and remove myself from the magic of his mouth. A minute later, his fingers pinched, rather than rubbed and it was all over. I wailed into the arm I was leaning on and my entire body convulsed as I came. Utter incoherent gibberish rolling out of my mouth. He removed his tongue and rested his damp face on my lower back. Him nearly as breathless as me.

"No, Babe," he husked as I made to stand up. "Stay just like that for me." He climbed to his feet and rubbed his hands up and down my back. "Just like this," he murmured as I felt the tip of his cock brush against me.

_What is he? Psychic? This is exactly what I wanted him to do._

I whimpered when I felt him move my hips into a better position, loving that he seemed to like taking control.

"Are you ready Babe? Because I'm dying." I barely finished my first nod and he was inside me so far I had to raise onto my toes.

"Ahhhhhhhh!" He moaned. He held still inside me for a second, placing his hands next to mine on the counter, caging me in. "I love fucking you, Steph," he gritted in my ear.

I felt like I was being immolated, like he was consuming me from the inside out. He moved back, sliding almost all the way out, he grabbed my hips with both hands and rather than thrusting forward, he eased me backwards, so slowly that I felt every ridge and vein of his fat cock inside me.

It wasn't supposed to be like this, he was just supposed to be getting me pregnant. Not setting me on fire and making me beg for more. I started to panic and tense and he, like he always does, sensed that something was wrong. His hands urged me to stand and lean back against his body, entering me much more shallowly from our height difference. He wrapped his solid arms around me and he tilted my face back to kiss him, calming me with his tenderness. We stayed like that, lips brushing, panting, eyes locked until I thought my heart would pound out of my chest. I looked away, unable to stand the intensity for a second more. His right hand let go of its death grip on my hip and smoothed up my belly between my breasts and came to rest spread at the base of my neck, thumb, feather light, grazing over the pulsing artery. "I didn't know… unh, Babe…" he whispered in my ear.

"Me either." I managed to get out.

He started pulling me back with more force and the friction of the head of his dick dragging down the front wall of my vagina was making me very nearly scream with each thrust.

"I can feel how much you like this, Steph. Tell me you like this, please?" He begged.

"Oh my god, Carlos!" I whispered as I started to shake, my approaching orgasm practically choking me. "I love it, you feel so good." I moaned as the shaking culminated in a climax so intense my toes literally curled, my calves cramped, and I might have lost consciousness for a second or two. I distantly heard his guttural cries as I felt him pulse inside me a beat later.

He collapsed in a chair at the table, still inside me. His hands smoothing all over and my hand anchored in his hair, scratching lightly at his scalp.

"Are we making a mistake here Carlos?" I tried to make my voice sound strong and failed miserably, to my ears I sounded scared, very scared.

"I don't know." He said, just as quietly. "But I know I love you, Steph. And I know you love me. Just don't stop talking to me, okay? If we keep communicating, everything should be alright." I nodded and rested my cheek in the hollow of his neck.

We sat quietly like that for a few minutes before I started feeling the chill in the air. He rubbed his hands up my arms, but I shivered anyway. "Are you cold, Babe?" He whispered.

"Yes."

"Let me up," he said, gently patting my thighs. I stood on shaky legs and caught a smug smile on his face.

"What?" I asked, watching transfixed as he stood and stretched, every single muscle in his torso standing out.

"You sore already?"

"Umm, yeah. I'm starting to feel like a human wishbone." I grumbled as he grabbed my hand and his shirt off the floor, and started towards the stairs. "I'm also starving. Where are we going?"

"To the shower."

"I just took one."

He got to the bathroom door and turned back to me. "Yeah and then I sweated all over you. Just get in the bathroom Steph." He said rolling his eyes.

"You know, just because I may have let you boss me around in the bedroom before, doesn't mean that that's how things are going to work from now on." I said, hands on hips.

He gently pushed me further into the room and took a knee on the bathmat. "Stephanie, mother of my future child, will you please shower with me?" He asked, giving me the big doe eyes.

"Fine." I muttered, trying really hard not to smile at his silliness.

He grinned big and stood up, kissing me quick and reaching to turn the water on. I'm pretty sure he didn't notice how my heart rate picked up with that little kiss.

"Hop in there. I'll be right back." He sauntered across the hall and grabbed his bag.

_Jesus, that's a flawless ass. _No really, a sculptor would drool over it, it was so perfectly shaped. He turned and caught me staring, his grin turning megawatt.

The front view was just as arresting as the rear view.

He really should wear less clothes.

He dug his shower gel out of his bag and opened the shower door for me, gesturing me inside the tub. I stepped in and closed my eyes letting the hot water wash over me, trying to let some of my apprehension go down the drain with it, but it wasn't easy. I know that I was the one that put this all in motion, I was just worried about how _much_ he was making me feel. He stepped in close behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist and I allowed myself to enjoy his offer of comfort. "It'll be okay, Steph. Please stop worrying." He murmured, his face resting next to mine. I linked my fingers with his at my belly and rubbed my cheek against his.

"I'm trying." I whispered. We were quiet after that, washing each other, staying until the water turned cold. Stepping out, he wrapped me in a towel and gently dried me off. Taking better care of me than any boyfriend I'd ever had, but then again, I usually didn't allow them to do these kinds of things, preferring to keep some distance intimately.

"C'mon, it's 10:15 already, we're missing the game," he said as he slipped his shirt back over my shoulders and re-buttoned it. "Just put some underwear on this time so I don't attack you again." I rolled my eyes, but did as he asked.

I finally reheated my food, made a plate for him and joined him on the couch. My Rangers were playing hard in LA, looking to prove that they were stronger after last season's heartbreaking loss of the Stanley cup.

"Here." I said handing him his plate.

"Thanks. This smells awesome. I'm freaking starving." he said, digging in immediately.

"Yeah? You earned it." He really had.

"Just wait. We're not done yet."

I sighed, "Don't I know it?" He grinned but turned his attention back to the game.

I found my attention straying from the rink on the screen and watched him as I ate. How had I never really noticed how sexy he was before? I mean, yeah, I was kind of desensitized to his presence over the years, but seeing him in this light was just…different. He had his long, pajama clad legs stretched out, bare feet crossed at the ankles on my coffee table. His strong upper body covered by only a tight, thin, white tank top. Beautifully muscled shoulders and arms on display. All of that capped by his gorgeous face made even better by the intelligence that was always emanating from his dark eyes.

He turned and caught me staring. "What?"

"You really are very attractive." His face brightened. Putting his empty plate on the table, he took mine away as well, but not before I snagged my egg roll though. He pulled me closer and pried it out of my fingers.

"I'm still eating!"

He held it out for me, but wouldn't let me take it, he just held it to my lips. "I'm not stopping you," he murmured, slipping his arm around my waist and hoisting me into his lap. I took a big bite and moaned at the deliciousness. The crispy roll and the yummy inside. Two more bites and I was down to the end. I grabbed his wrist and pulled the last of it into my mouth, his fingers included, and licked them clean. Smiling to myself when he groaned and I felt him stiffen under me. In a flash I was on my back, underneath him, looking up at his suddenly very serious face. My heart was pounding because I knew we were going to do it again and I couldn't wait.

He slowly stripped us, gently smoothing his big hands all over me. "You're so beautiful, Steph. I always thought you were, but seeing you like this…" He laid down on top of me. "…bare, for me…it's just…" He trailed off and locked eyes with me as he pushed inside. My back arched and a guttural cry ripped from my throat. His hands slid into my hair and he cradled my head, trapping me. The look on his face so sweet that I felt tears prickle behind my eyes. One broke free and trickled down my temple and he swiped it away. "Don't cry, Babe. It'll be okay. Don't cry." He bent and kissed me, gently probing my mouth with his tongue.

He was everywhere, inside me, over me, it was completely overwhelming and when I shattered he did too, his warm breath fanning over my face.

We went to bed after that, grateful that he didn't bother to re-dress. I pushed all those confused thoughts away and indulged in feeling him warm and smooth, spooned against my back.

He woke with the sun the next morning and was making me scream within minutes, fucking me hard from behind.

"Want to join me in the shower, Babe?" He queried, after.

It was beyond my capabilities to remove my face from the pillow, so I doubted I could stand up right now. "No, you go ahead." I mumbled into the cotton. I yelped when his hand came down on my ass. Not hard, just nice.

He laughed all the way into the bathroom. I must have fallen back asleep because what felt like seconds later he was nudging me awake, fully dressed and shaved, coffee for me in one hand.

I rolled over and sat up, reaching for the cup. "Bless you." I moaned as I took my first sip.

"Tired?" He asked, grinning.

"If I didn't need to save up my vacation time, I'd call out sick today." He laughed and sat down at my side, bracing his arm on the other side of my waist. His face right over mine, his chest millimeters from touching mine, smug grin, bright. "You're pretty proud of yourself aren't you?" I asked.

"Damn right." He smirked, his eyes dipping to my lips. He hesitated for a second and then he was kissing me again. Soft at first, as he took the mug out of my hand and set it down on the table, then hard and demanding as I wrapped my arms around his neck. He pulled back and rested his forehead to mine, breathing heavy. "My house tonight?"

"Okay." I agreed. "What time is your last appointment?"

"I should be done by 5:30. I can be home by 6:00. I'll get dinner, unless…you want to go out?"

"I can meet you at Shorty's after work?"

"Okay." He kissed me one more time. "I'll see you tonight, then." He stood and backed away. "Don't go back to sleep now." He warned.

"Go." I said making a shooing motion with my hands. He laughed and took off. It wasn't until I stood and stretched contentedly that I realized that while he may have been completely dressed, our entire exchange had occurred while I was completely nude and I hadn't been the slightest bit concerned with that. He had allayed any of my self-consciousness last night with the look he gave me when he peeled off my clothes, repeatedly. And yeah, the sexy underwear I had worn was for his benefit, but that lust in his eyes only increased when the lingerie was on the floor.

I toyed with the idea of skipping another shower, liking that I smelled like him. I took one anyway, knowing that in less than twelve hours he'd be all over me again.

I wasn't wrong.

… **And they're still not done. She still has a day and a half or so left in her ovulation window!**

**I'm feeling a bit needy today, so please forgive this next bit. **

**The last chapter got about 1,500 views according to FF . net, but only 22 reviews. It's got me worried that this story actually stinks and you are all too kind to say so. Even if that is the case, I'll still be finishing the story because I love it and I love these two. I just would really like to hear from everyone. A review is the only recompense that I get from all this and I love, love, love to hear your words.**

**If you have a second, let me know what you thought?**

**Love,**

**EA xoxo**


	6. Chapter 6

**Can I just say that you guys are spectacular? You are! The feedback you all gave me, kept me smiling all weekend at work. If I didn't get back to you, it was because of the sheer volume of responses. It means so much to me that so many of you took the time. Thank-you, really.**

**I own only the plot.**

**And they're still at it! Baby making is serious business ;)**

RPOV

I somehow made it through my work day, trying my best to compartmentalize. I'd be sitting in my chair, listening to a patient and _bam_, I'd get a flash of Steph, her naked breast, her moans, her pussy…her face when I made her come. She was like a coming machine and it was sexy as hell.

I'd never had sex that many times in one night, but I couldn't seem to keep my hands off of her. Nor had I had the refractory period of a teenager since I was, well, a teenager. There was just something about what we were doing that, that made it so… vital, to do it again, and again, and again.

I was so anxious to leave work that I was packing up my stuff before my last patient had even left my office. I shot past my office manager, calling goodbye as I bypassed the elevator and headed straight for the stairs.

When Shorty's was renovated a few years ago, it had gone from a dive pizza joint to an odd pizza/coffee shop hybrid. They had replaced most of the booths along the walls with overstuffed armchairs arranged in groupings. Each grouping had a low table between them. Steph's favorite spot was in the back corner, an incredibly comfy loveseat and chair combo. We'd spent hours here in the past, just hanging, talking and laughing. I can't recall ever being this antsy about seeing her here though.

I had commandeered our table and ordered our pizza before she walked in. I caught sight of her at the door and sucked in a deep breath. No clothes were ever going to beat the way she looked when I left her this morning, naked and perfect, but the dress she had on ran a close second. It was dark blue and wrapped around her and tied at the waist. The tiny hint of cleavage peeking out at the top had me trying to discreetly adjust myself. If she was going to be in the lab all day she usually wore flat shoes, but today she must've been at her desk most of the time because she had on some damn sexy heels. Her legs went on for miles with them on. She caught sight of me and smiled. The same smile she'd been giving me for thirty years, except now, with this paradigm shift in our friendship, that smile made my heart speed up.

_Shit._

I stood when she got close and pulled her into a hug, she melted into me a little bit before leaning her head back and smiling. "Hi."

"Hey." I debated the wisdom of kissing her again. I'd done it this morning before I left, but I wasn't sure how public she wanted this to be. _Fuck it. _I pulled her lips to mine and kissed her softly. She hummed and returned it. I backed away before I could get carried away, still mystified that there was so much…energy, between us. She blushed a bit and took a seat, just as Kelly, our usual server, placed the pizza on the table.

"Hi Steph." She said, looking between us. "Diet soda today?"

"No Kell, can I just have water please?"

"Sure. Be right back." Kelly, wandered off looking more than a little suspicious.

"Uh-oh, the jig is up."

Steph laughed. "Yeah, I'd say so." She sighed and got serious. "What are we going to tell people if we manage to do this?"

"You mean, when. Not if. This is going to work, Babe, I can feel it."

"Okay, we'll approach it like that, _when_ we get pregnant, what are we going to tell them?" She asked picking at the slice of pizza on her plate.

"We talked about this already. I'm the father, it's my baby too."

"Of course. No, I mean, what do we tell them about how we made the baby. We're not _together, _together."

_Fuck; that was a shot straight to the gut. _I knew that we weren't _seeing _each other; that we were having sex only to make the baby, but… shit, this was way more confusing than I thought it would be.

"You really think people are going to ask how the baby was conceived?"

"Your mother? Mine? Yeah, I think they're going to ask," she replied dryly.

"We tell them the truth. We're doing this, this way to avoid all that intervention."

"Our mothers have been trying to get us together since we were in high school, Carlos. My mother's going to be shopping for wedding dresses before I can finish telling her that I'm pregnant."

I swallowed hard. I'd always thought that I would eventually get married, I just never really thought about to whom. But now, I had the image of Steph in a wedding dress front and center in my head and it was…nice. And then I thought about her walking down the aisle towards some faceless dude and I felt a little bit of rage bubble up.

_Shit._

"She can't make you do anything you don't want to do, Babe." I hedged.

"I know that, just ugh…" She rubbed her temples with her fingers. I squeezed in next to her on the little couch, pulling her into my side.

"Stop. We'll work it out. Stress isn't good for you, especially when we're trying to put a bun in your oven." I put my palm low on her still flat belly, genuinely looking forward to seeing that belly swell with our baby. _My _baby.

"Easier said than done." She huffed. "I'm sorry I'm being so…high-strung about this. From now on, I'm going to be calm, just like you."

I managed to keep my skeptical snort in, but she elbowed me in the side anyway.

"You're only picking at that pizza. Do you want to just take it home and we'll heat it up later?" I asked her.

"Yeah. That's fine." I caught Kelly's eye and she hustled over.

"What's up guys? Something wrong?" She had a huge grin on her face and her eyes kept flicking to where my hand had just been.

"No it's fine. Can we just take it go? We have something to do."

"Sure." Her smile widened, she scooped the pie up and headed to the kitchen. She was back in a flash with our box and I handed her enough cash to cover the check and her tip.

"Stay longer next time. We didn't get to chat." She said, giving us a significant look and turning away.

Steph shot me a look as if to say 'you see'. The staff here was well aware that we were just friends, but I guess our behavior tonight was raising a few eyebrows_. _

I beat Steph to her trunk in my driveway and grabbed her bag before she could. "I'm not pregnant yet Carlos. I think I can handle my overnighter."

"You never know. We were trying pretty hard last night…" I smiled as an image of her on all fours flashed in my mind, "and this morning."

"Tell me about it. You're going to have to be gentle tonight. Sore isn't the right word to describe what's going on down there today."

Was it fucked up that that turned me on at the same time that I felt bad?

"Don't worry, Babe. I know just how to make you feel better." I said as I pulled her though my front door. I dropped her bag on the floor and started pulling at the knot holding her dress closed. She batted my hands away and went to put the pizza in the fridge. I pulled my tie off, kicked my shoes aside and followed her into the kitchen. She was staring out of the window into my darkened back yard. She had stepped out of her heels and was absently pointing and flexing her feet, stretching them. Those shoes always hurt her, but that had never stopped her from wearing them.

I stood behind her and rested my chin on top of her head, folding my arms around her. She sighed and relaxed back. "Will you set up a room for the baby here? Put a play-set out there when he's bigger?"

"He?"

"Just a feeling I have."

"Yep. It'll be one of those big ones too. You know with the rock wall and everything." She craned her neck and regarded me for a few beats.

"Of course you will. You better stand behind him and make sure he doesn't break his neck."

"He'll be fine," I assured her. I took a deep breath, because my next idea was a big deal. "So… I've been thinking. Do you think that maybe, for the first few months at least, that we all should stay together after the baby comes? It doesn't matter if it's here or at your house. I just think that it would be better if we do that. We'd all get more sleep and I could help out at night if I'm there."

She turned all the way around and wrapped her arms around my waist. "You'd really want that? From what I hear, it's not exactly a fun time."

"That's exactly why I want to do it. I'm not leaving you to deal with the hard stuff alone. We're in this together, Babe."

"Okay." She said quietly, eyes fixed on my chest. I lifted her chin and searched her eyes.

"Neither of us will be single parents here. I told you, I'm not just donating my DNA. If that's what you want, Steph, then maybe we should stop, because I can't have a child and not be part of his life."

"I wouldn't want any different. But, what happens when you meet someone and you want to start a family with them?"

"I'm starting a family with you. I love you, we're best friends. That's enough for me." She smiled that smile again and my heart beat reacted accordingly. "What about you? Are you planning on going out looking for someone?"

She shook her head. "Like I'd have the time." That wasn't quite the answer I was looking for, but I'd take it… for now.

"So" I said, rubbing my hands down her back. "Do you want to watch TV?" She shook her head and smiled. "Do you want to play Monopoly?" More head shaking with a lip bite thrown in. "Hmmm. What else is there to do?"

"We could try this whole sex thing again. See if we can get it right this time," she said with a laugh.

"Babe, how right do you want it? You came twice this morning, and how many times last night?"

"Six."

"Really?"

"Mmmhmmm."

"Are you always like that?"

"It's never hard for me to get there, but you were definitely on a roll last night. You beat my best count by three."

I could feel my chest puff out. I knew Morelli wasn't good enough for her.

"You wanna' try to break that record?"

"I don't think that's possible without breaking my vagina."

"I love your vagina, I would never break it." She laughed loud. "Is it weird that this isn't weird?" I asked her. Being with her like this felt… natural.

"It's really not, is it?"

Shaking my head, I moved my fingers to the tie at her waist again and she let me this time. I pulled the two halves of her dress apart, revealing nude colored lace underwear. If you looked quick, she looked naked already. It was nice and all, but she was better without anything on at all. I pushed the dress off her shoulders and let it puddle on the floor. Taking her face in my hands I bent and kissed her. I tried to keep it gentle like she asked, but I was having a hard time. She made this humming sound in the back of her throat when I kissed her and it made me lose a little bit of control. I grabbed her under her thighs and hoisted her up. She locked her arms and ankles around me and I carried her to my room, never letting go of her lips. As soon as I set her down on the bed, she scrambled to her knees and started desperately working on the buttons of my shirt and yanking at my belt.

"What happened to gentle, Babe?"

"Shut up." She grinned, unbuttoning and unzipping me and shoving my pants and boxers to the floor. She wrapped one hand around my cock and ran the other up my stomach to my chest. I was kind of frozen there, holding my breath, waiting to see what she was going to do. She held my gaze as she lowered her mouth to my tip and licked the head, then sucked me inside her warm, wet mouth.

_Fuck, shit, motherfucker!_

I felt everything inside me clench. To see _Stephanie _with her mouth on my cock was completely surreal.

"Fuck, Babe," I gritted out. I didn't see how this was going to get her pregnant, but I wasn't going to stop her, it felt way too good. I looked down her back and felt myself harden even more. She was wearing a thong and the way her ass looked as she bent over made my hands twitch with the need to spank her a little. _Jesus Christ. _I rubbed my hands roughly over my face as I felt her suck me into the back of her mouth. My hands flying to her hair and gently as I could, I pulled her off me. She sat back on her heels and gazed up at me.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

I didn't answer her, I just yanked off my shirt and crawled over her as she backed up. I kept moving until she was kneeling in front of the headboard, panting and with that sex flush on her chest and cheeks. I reached around and flicked her bra open, tugging on the center of it, I threw it across the room. I shoved my hands under the elastic of those tiny panties and pushed them down her thighs. They got stuck half way down and she braced her hands on my shoulders, standing over me so I could get them all the way off. I leaned forward and licked at her pussy before she could get back on her knees. _Goddamn, she tasted so fucking good._ I grabbed her ass with both hands and pressed her closer to my mouth. Frantically licking at her clit and sucking it between my lips. I rotated my hand and worked my fingers between her cheeks and slid two fingers into her pussy. If she was sore, you wouldn't know it by the noise she was making. Every moan making me leak a little bit more. She came quickly, with her hand clamped in my hair, her body tense, tits shaking.

Holy shit, I loved making her come.

I eased her down and urged her to turn around on her knees. Moving between her legs I picked her hands up and placed them on the top of the headboard.

"Okay?" I asked as I pulled her hips back.

She rubbed her ass against my cock, hissing, "Yesssss." I held her still as I pushed inside her, keeping her upright against me. My head falling back at the tightness engulfing me. I tried to go slow, but the way she was pushing back against me, the sound of our skin slapping together, watching her ass jiggle a little, took that little bit of control I had left and I started slamming into her, hard.

"Fuck, Babe. I'm going to come, are you close?"

"Yes, harder, harder." She moaned, grabbing my hand off her hip and pulled it towards her pussy, sliding our fingers between her lips so I could touch her clit. I rubbed hard over it and felt her start to tighten, her head thrown back on my shoulder, broken moans pouring from her sexy mouth. I slammed back into her one more time and stilled, bottoming out at her cervix, coming so hard I saw stars. We collapsed sideways, my cock still semi hard and inside her. I was half-way tempted to start thrusting again, hopeful that maybe I could get it up all the way, but tried to be mindful of her poor, abused pussy. She'd asked me to be gentle and then I'd fucked her like an animal.

"You okay, Babe."

"Mmmhmmmm."

"Not hurting?"

"Nuh-uh. I feel good," she sighed. "So good."

I pulled out of her and stood, seized by a great idea. "I'll be right back."

"Okay." She breathed.

Heading into the bathroom, I got the bathtub running. I had this old tub that Steph had convinced me to keep when I had the bathroom renovated. It was huge and deep, easily big enough for the two of us. She was already at the doorway when I turned to go get her. She grabbed my body wash and dumped some under the running water, bubbles quickly foaming up.

"You're a genius. This is exactly what I need." She hopped in and sat forward. "Come on. Get in."

I squeezed in behind her and rested my hands on her stomach, she rubbed her cheek against mine and used her toes to shut the water off. "You're still thinking it's going to be a boy?"

"Yep." She said softly. She held my wrist up and measured our hands against each other. Hers small and fine boned compared to mine, making it glaringly apparent exactly how delicate her body really was. Physiologically, I knew she would be fine carrying and delivering the baby, but I've never done well with seeing her in pain. Much as I was excited to see her give birth, I was dreading it at the same time. "And if he's anything like you, he's going to be huge." She murmured, still looking at our hands. "Will you rub my back if he makes it sore?"

"Maybe. You'll have to prove it's his fault though." I said with a grin. I caught her elbow before it could make contact with my ribs. "Careful, Babe." I whispered in her ear. "If you injure me, I might not be able to fuck you again tonight." She smirked and rolled to face me, sloshing water on the floor. She climbed over me until she straddled my legs, my hands immediately honing in on her slim waist.

"I'm sure you'll manage just fine. You have surprising stamina… Although, this last time didn't take you very long."

"Seriously? You had my cock in your mouth and you're wondering why I didn't last long enough?" She bit her lip and tried not to smile. "You're lucky I was able to hold out long enough to get inside you."

Rolling her eyes she said, "So, what you're saying is, that if I want to get more than five minutes out of you, I need to not give you head before-hand?"

"Babe, I'll never, ever, tell you to not suck my dick. Ever."

She laughed and slapped my chest gently. "You talking like that shouldn't turn me on."

I moved my hands around to cup her pretty ass. "But it does?"

"Yeah, it does." She slid forward slightly, until she was right over my hardening dick. Lifting up, she gripped me in her hand and pumped until I was completely hard, then held me up so she could slide down. I fought to keep my eyes open, needing to keep this visual of her on top of me in my mind. This new aspect of our relationship had an expiration date, images of her like this would be all I had as soon as we were successful. She bent forward and kissed me so softly that my already over-excited heart sped even more.

I knew I was heading into some seriously dangerous territory here, but there didn't seem to be anyway to stop it.

**Remember the Energizer bunny? And going, and going, and going… They **_**still**_** have a few more rounds to go.**

**Oh, and I'm putting together a Pinterest board for each of my stories with the visual inspiration for various scenes, including the wedding from Ranger's Rangers (Whenever I finally finish that monster chapter!). Thank you Babefangirl for the brilliant idea! I'll post a link when they're ready. **

**I loved hearing your thoughts last week. I would love it if you all would share them again!**

**Thanks for reading,**

**Love,**

**EA xoxo**


	7. Chapter 7

**They're not mine, but I do love getting them naked together. **

**Yep, *looks down* still going, and going, and going…**

SPOV

"I think there's more water on the floor than in the tub, Carlos." He grinned in response, handed me some more towels and threw the sopping wet ones in a basket to be washed.

"Next time we won't fill the tub as much."

"Maybe after tomorrow morning there won't be a next time. Maybe we've already done it." I said, trying to sound like I was unaffected by that idea. In reality, I felt unsettlingly bereft. It wasn't just that sex with him was the best I ever had, though it was, it was the way we connected when we were _connected._ I'd never felt it that acutely before. I was going to miss that, a lot.

He stared at me for a second and cleared his throat. "Yeah, maybe." If I didn't know him so well, I'd think nothing of the blank face he was wearing right now. He wasn't relishing the idea of this stopping either.

"Do you think that should do it for this month then?" He asked as we dressed in his room.

My stomach clenched. "I was thinking again tonight, maybe tomorrow morning, just to make sure?"

"Okay." He responded quietly.

I pulled my shorts on and grabbed his hand. "You okay?"

He took a deep breath and held my gaze for a second. "Yep, fine," he insisted. He looked like he was really biting his tongue though.

"What? Don't start holding back."

He just shook his head. "Nothing. Everything's fine." He pulled me close and hugged me tight, dropping a light kiss on top of my head. "Let's go eat, give your vagina a break," he laughed and pulled me into his kitchen.

We spent the evening relaxing, watching TV. We were stretched out on his couch, Carlos' back to one end, mine to the other, legs tangled in the middle. This was how we'd watched TV since we were little. Only now, Carlos was absently dragging his fingertips up and down my calf and it was turning me on. A lot. I shifted more to my side and pulled my leg out of his grasp. He cut his eyes to me, looking a little hurt.

"It tickled." I offered with a shrug. He reached for my foot, somewhat defiantly, and brought it back to where it had been resting on his stomach and proceeded with the most orgasmic foot rub I've ever had. I had worn high heels to work today and my feet were still stiff from tottering around on four inch spikes all day long. He pressed his thumb hard into the arch in the exact spot that was bothering me the most.

"Mmmmmmmmmm," slipped out.

"There?" He pressed harder.

"Yessssss," I slurred. I was absolute mush inside, warm and completely relaxed. He moved his thumb to the ball of my foot and I moaned again.

"You make that sound when I'm inside you." He said quietly. I felt heat flood my cheeks and my eyes flew open. He was staring at my face, eyes black and mouth smiling slightly. He raised my foot to his mouth and, holding my gaze, kissed across the arch up to my ankle. I felt those kisses in a completely different spot and squirmed against the ache that was building deep inside. I was already wet from his innocent touches, now that he seemed to want to start touching in earnest, I felt ready to combust. He slowly kissed his way up my leg, stopping for a second to touch the very tip of his tongue to that sensitive spot behind my knee, and then moved up my thigh. I thought for sure he would tug my shorts off and quickly maneuver us into whatever position he'd thought up, but he surprised me by pushing my shirt up to expose only my stomach. He slowly, softly kissed just under my navel and laid his cheek there, my heart flip-flopped and my breath stuttered. My hand automatically burrowing into his thick, silky hair.

"I think you're right," he murmured. "I think that we've done it already."

I let my fingers drift down to his cheek, loving the rasp of his stubble against the tips.

"I don't know, we have to wait two whole weeks to find out and unless we're ridiculously fertile… I'm going to try my hardest to not to get my hopes up too much about it yet."

He gazed at me for a second and I saw it wash over him again. Before I could draw a breath he was over me, kissing me hard, almost desperately.

We didn't even make it to his bed this time, he took me against the wall outside his bedroom door. Hard and fast, my legs cramping from clamping around his waist. My shorts were dangling off one ankle, my top shoved up to my neck, his pants in a puddle around his feet. The vibration of his moans against the skin of my throat completely intoxicating, the feeling of his strong body moving against mine, the base of his cock grinding against my clit catapulting me into orgasm. He growled and came so hard that his legs gave out and we slid down the wall and landed in a heap.

"You okay?" I asked him.

I felt him nod and chuckle. "Yeah, just exhausted."

I clambered off of him and held my hand out, he took it and managed to get to his feet. He pulled my top the rest of the way off and yanked his off too. He wrapped his arms around my waist and urged me to the bed, lifting the blanket up and settling in with me firmly pressed to his side. I luxuriated in feeling all of him next to me, knowing that this could very well be it for us. "Goodnight, Babe. I love you." He murmured with a soft kiss.

"Love you too." I whispered.

I woke before him the next morning and watched his handsome face as he slept. He was dreaming, his eyes twitching under closed lids, a tiny smile on his lips. From our teens we had always been open with each other, talking freely about sex and relationships, but he wasn't the kind of guy to brag. I knew that he loved oral, giving and receiving, honestly though who doesn't? I had no clue how amazing he was at it. And now looking at those soft lips and knowing how dexterous his tongue was, I couldn't help but fidget against him. He stirred but didn't wake. We were in pretty much the same position as we were a few weeks ago, only now we were naked. My leg was thrown over his hip, his hand splayed on my ass cheek, and his cock hard under my thigh. I'm positive he would be feeling my wetness on his hip if he were awake. He hummed and his hand held my cheek more firmly, his fingers digging in, creating the most delicious friction. His eyes popped open and he looked surprised for a second before his eyes darkened and he rolled over me.

"Hi," he gritted before swooping down and shoving his tongue in my mouth. If I had thought that the way he kissed me last night was desperate, it was nothing to now. It was bruising and intense and so passionate that it felt like my heart was going to pound out of my chest, matching the rapid tattoo of his own pressed against me. His fingers pushed inside me a second before they were gone and I felt the blunt head of him slide all the way inside.

"Fuck… Babe," he moaned quietly. Trapping me with his eyes, he slowly pulled out and thrust back in. My hands slid down his back and my legs wound around his thighs, caging him in. He slowly surged forward and my back arched in an attempt to feel him deeper. I could feel sweat gather at the small of his back and the slow undulation of his hips pushing against mine, the flex of his ass under my palms, his forehead pressed to mine, all combined to ignite a heat inside me unlike anything I'd ever felt.

"Don't close your eyes, Babe. I need to see you." I pried my heavy lids open and gazed at him, just letting myself feel him.

It didn't take long for me to feel the beginnings of an orgasm. I don't know if it was his magnificent cock, the way he paid attention to my reactions to his touch, or the way he looked at me while he was deep inside me, maybe all of the above, but he pushed me closer and closer to the edge. From the strain on his face I knew he was just as close as I was. He slid a hand under me and tilted my hips slightly. It was like touching a match to a wick, the ensuing conflagration. A delicious heat spread through me, only intensifying when I felt him shudder and release inside me, our arms and legs tangled, breath coming in gasps and his heart still pounding against mine.

If we weren't pregnant yet, that time definitely did it.

"So, now we wait?" He asked.

"Now we wait." I lifted slightly and kissed him. "Thank-you." I whispered against his lips.

He kissed me back. "Anything," he said. I knew this to be true, besides my father, Carlos was the one man in my life that I knew I could trust with everything. It was probably why he was the only person I could think of to do this with. Granted, I never imagined this was the way we would go about doing it.

He slowly eased himself out of me and out of bed. "I'm going to take a shower, you coming?"

I almost said no, but the look on his face got me out of the bed and had my hand in his, before my refusal could come out.

As I rinsed the shampoo from his hair and felt his hands around my waist, I thought again about how profoundly I was going to miss this dimension of us. He had never been stingy with his affection in the past. But the thought of never feeling his skin against mine again made a lump form in my throat. I wrapped my arms around him and rested my cheek on his chest and allowed myself one last indulgence. He didn't say anything, just held me there until the water ran cold.

My day passed slowly, an intern submitted a proposal for a new research study that with a little tweaking we could probably find some funding for. I had lunch with Connie. I worked some more.

Around 5:00 my phone chimed a text from Carlos asking if I was coming to his hockey game. The flush of giddy warmth I felt when I saw it was from him was new. I typed out my affirmative reply, genuinely excited to see him play again. I had been so caught up with work lately that I hadn't been to one of his games since last season. He really was a very talented player and probably could have at least played in a professional minor league if he had pursued it. But he loved seeing patients and the rec league he had started with some old army buddies gave him an outlet for his athleticism.

Two hours later I was digging through my closet for my winter boots when I heard his key scrape in the front door lock. He opened the door and smiled at me before he pulled me close and went to kiss me, pulling back at the last second and kissing my cheek instead.

I wasn't ready to name the feeling that sparked.

"You ready?" He asked as he let go of my waist. "Where's your coat? It's going to be freezing at the rink."

"I just remembered that I haven't picked it up from the cleaners yet. I'll be alright like this." I had on a heavy sweater and had a scarf and gloves in my hands. He just raised his eyebrows and tugged me to his car.

"Want to go out with the guys after? They've missed you."

"Sure, it's been ages since we've all gone out."

"You should've heard Les when I told him you were coming to the game. I think he still has a crush on you."

I rolled my eyes. "He never had a crush on me, shut up."

"Babe, you forget, he says shit when you're not around that he would never say when you are."

"Yeah? Well, I'm still not interested." I watched Carlos out of the corner of my eye. Our banter felt completely normal and aside from the awkward moment around the almost kiss, I felt like we were fine. But there was an edge to his words. I know what he was doing by telling me this and he had no reason to worry. I had absolutely no intention of seeing anyone while we were involved like this. And certainly not when I was pregnant. Maybe after the baby, but even then I had a hard time picturing it.

His smile got a little wider when I said that and he slid into a parking space at the rink. He hopped out and grabbed my door before hauling his massive hockey bag out of the trunk and snatching his stick bag before I could grab it.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"I was going to help you, hello?"

"I got it."

"You're not going to be a one of _those_ guys are you?" I asked as we made our way inside.

"What guys?"

"The ones who act like a pregnant woman is all fragile. I used to always help carry your equipment." I complained tugging on the strap of the bag.

He hoisted the strap higher and grinned triumphantly. "So, you really _do_ think you're pregnant too, huh?"

"You're pregnant?" A voice said from right behind us. We both froze. Lester was standing barely two feet from us, gaping.

"Ummmmm."

"Wow Beautiful, I guess I should say congratulations. Who's the lucky guy?"

"Ummmmm." I had no idea what to say. We weren't going to keep it a secret, but my mother would never forgive me if I told anyone else before her. And the likelihood that we had managed to get pregnant in the last few days was slim.

I cut my eyes to Carlos and he jumped in, "You're such a nosy asshole," he joked.

He tugged off his jacket and threw it around my shoulders, "Here, hold onto this for me." Carlos grabbed Les by the shoulder and turned him around, distracting him and shoving him towards the changing rooms.

I looked to the bleachers and saw Lula waving me over. She was so pregnant that she looked about ready to pop and happier than I'd ever seen her. I sat down next to her and wondered again if I would look like her nine months from now.

**AN: So, I was going to post this chapter and the next at once, but decided against it. This update, and especially the next one, can stand alone. **

**And, oh yeah, I had to make them recreational hockey players. Can you tell what my favorite sport is?**

**I have to say, it was a little emotional writing the small part in the shower, but I love how they're always there for each other. **

**Come on, tell me the part that stuck out for you most. I live for your reviews! **

**Thanks for reading,**

**Love,**

**EA xoxo **


	8. Chapter 8

**I don't know why I find the mental image of Ranger in hockey gear and all sweaty and breathless from playing so delicious, but I do. I don't think I could ever write him being any other kind of athlete. Speaking of, the next chapter of Ranger's Rangers is moving along slowly, but it will be a monster, so hopefully, it'll be worth the wait. The next It Happened One Night is half done as well. I'm just not sure when I'll post them.**

**This chapter here and the next are have some big happenings for our couple, I hope you enjoy them.**

**They're technically not mine, but at least this plot is.**

**See you at the bottom… **

RPOV

"Is she pregnant?" Les asked, throwing his hockey bag on the bench.

"What?"

"Is. She. Pregnant?" he asked exasperatedly.

"What the hell? Just get changed, we need to be on the ice in ten minutes for warmups."

"Are you really not going to answer me?"

"No I'm not. Mind your business." Les stared hard at me for a second before turning and pulling his gear out of his bag. He may be a close friend, but he didn't need to know what was going on just yet.

I sat to lace up my skates, still trying to block out what we did this morning. The noises she made, the way she whispered my name right as she was coming, stuck on repeat in my head all damn day. The way the pretty blue of her eyes got almost completely swallowed by dilated pupil when she was really turned on and, shit, the way it felt when she was wrapped around my dick.

I needed to stop thinking about this shit. If I was right and she was already knocked up, we wouldn't be having sex again. And, it was distracting the hell out of me. The team we were playing tonight were a bunch of airman from McGuire Air Force Base. They were pretty cool guys, but if I wasn't focused they would pick up on that and be all over me. This was a full contact league and they liked to try and prove that they were as tough as us army guys and our one enormous scientist. We'd been pretty much unbeaten since we managed to lure Steph's boss, Dr. Boulanger, onto our team. He was over six and a half feet of French-Canadian brick wall that had been playing hockey since he was a toddler. We had given him a jersey with the nickname Tank on it and the name stuck since.

I found Steph on the bleachers as soon as I stepped on the ice, she was sitting next to Tank's very pregnant wife having what looked like a pretty animated conversation. I guessed the baby must've been moving as Lula was holding Steph's hand on her huge belly and there was a beautiful amazed smile on her face. I knew she and Lula were pretty close and while Steph had always wanted kids, the fact that every one of her female friends all had kids or were having them was influencing some of her current desire to have a baby. She had always been a very nurturing person though and I honestly thought that she would have had more than one child by now. I was floored when she broke up with Morelli. Besides his obvious inferiority in the sack, he was an okay guy and he did love her, I had no concrete reason for not liking him, but none the less, I still thought he was a douche and my feelings were reciprocated by him. He had wanted to marry her and start a family and when he proposed, she had surprised everyone when she had ended it instead.

Thinking about that asshole was probably just what I needed before this game.

Les was in the crease, marking up the ice, he faced out and crouched and we started railing shots at him. One of mine accidentally hitting him dead center of his forehead. He shook it off, but I'd definitely rung his bell. He shot me a finger and poke checked me as I skated past him, sending me flying. He gave me a shrug after, but I guess I deserved it for the head shot. Helmet or not, that shit hurts.

We won the game 4-2. Bobby, Tank, Hal and I all scored a goal apiece. Steph being the rabid hockey fan that she is, jumped up and cheered for each, but most of all for mine. She'd always been my greatest cheerleader, even more than my mom, and my mom was _loud _about her kids.

Steph was waiting outside the locker room when we walked out and again she went to take my stick bag. I threw it over my shoulder, slung my free arm around her waist and pulled her into my side. "Would you just stop? I got it," I said in her ear.

She gave me her pissy face, but didn't move out from under my arm. She turned her face into my neck and murmured, "Stop being such a macho asshole," and she bit me gently, just under my ear.

_What the fuck?_

I'm pretty sure she was trying to get me back for being a dick, but she only succeeded in making mine hard.

"If you two are done making out, can we go eat?" Bobby yelled from the doorway and headed into the parking lot, Tank and Lula were way ahead of him. And Les was waiting by the doors, gaping at us. Steph stepped away from me and I trailed after her. We had hugged many times in front of our friends, but I guess from a distance the way she nipped me had looked less retaliatory and more… flirty.

I beeped the car unlocked and Steph slid in while I threw my bag in the back.

"What is going on with you two?" Les asked, coming up behind me.

I sighed and turned, this was going to be awkward. "Just leave it alone."

"No, what the fuck? First you're talking about her being pregnant and now you're… canoodling in there."

"Did you just say canoodling?" I couldn't help but laugh.

"Don't avoid the question. I couldn't think of a better word." He muttered.

"I can't talk about it yet." I raised my hands to stop him from interrupting, "let's just go eat, okay?"

"Whatever." He replied blithely and stomped off.

Hopping into the driver's seat, Steph shot me a look. "What was that about?"

"He saw you going all vampire back there and wants to know what's going on with us."

"What did you say?" She asked.

"That I couldn't talk about it yet." Her eyebrows shot up. "What?"

"That was pretty much an admission that something is going on, Carlos!"

"Umm, there is something going on between us, Stephanie. We had sex how many times in the last few days? Nine?" She nodded, a tiny satisfied smile appeared on her face. Hmmmmm, "I wasn't going to lie to a friend. They're going to figure it out when I start handing out cigars, Babe."

"We agreed that we wouldn't tell anyone yet though. Do you want to tell people? We should tell our parents first," she said thoughtfully.

"I know. Your mom is going to lose her shit." After she got over the shock of us becoming parents together that is. Steph's mom had always loved me, but had long ago given up trying to get us to become a couple.

"So is yours. You're the second oldest and you still haven't given her any grandchildren." She countered, chewing on her lip for a second. "Do you still want to wait until we know it worked for sure?" She asked quietly.

I pulled up to the restaurant. "I don't know, but we have a few people waiting for us." I pointed to my whole team, who was gathered outside the front doors, staring straight at us.

She sighed. "Looks like Les has been filling everyone in."

I sat next to Steph at the long table they threw together for us and saw Tank and Lula exchange a knowing glance. Les and Hal were way too interested in the fact that Steph didn't order a glass of wine with dinner and stuck with water and Bobby didn't give a crap, Rangers highlights were playing. No one asked again, but I could tell they were dying to. Les was still being kind of a dick to me, but he'd get over that. He thought Steph was hot, but he wasn't interested in a relationship with her, or he would've asked her out in the year since she had broken up with Morelli.

We cut out around 11:30 and drove home in silence. I stopped in her driveway and cut the engine, not knowing if she wanted me to come in or not.

She sat lost in thought for a few minutes before asking, "Do you want to do something tomorrow?"

"I didn't have anything planned. You're not working?"

"Nope." She fiddled with her seatbelt for a minute. "Are you coming in?" She looked so unsure about something that would've been a given a week ago. I was pulling her door open and tugging her out of the car before I knew what I was doing.

"If you want me to."

"Shit Carlos, why is this awkward all of a sudden? We only had sex, a lot of sex, yes, but people do it all the time. I don't want this…weirdness." She said looking up at me sadly.

I pulled her in close. "Come on, let's go watch a movie and it'll be just like always. Okay?"

"Okay," she mumbled into my chest. I pulled away and tugged her to her door.

She wandered into the kitchen and I flopped on the couch. Hearing the microwave beep, I looked through the doorway to see what she was doing and in the process my eyes swept along the couch. The flashback to two nights ago was immediate and intense. I could see, feel, smell and taste her underneath me.

_Shit._

She bustled in a few seconds later with a huge bowl of popcorn and settled down on her end of the sofa, throwing her feet in my lap. "What do you want to see?" She asked, scrolling through her netflix. She turned to me and by her reaction I'm sure I was telegraphing what I was feeling pretty clearly.

"Uh, whatever you want. I don't mind." I stuttered. She cleared her throat and turned her attention to the TV again and settled on Clerks. And I tried to talk my dick down.

We'd seen this movie at least twenty times. It was a pre-requisite of growing up in Jersey in our generation. I drifted off around the time that Dante took his hockey game to the convenience store roof and woke to Steph dragging her fingers through my hair. The movie was over and she had already shut the lights in the living room out.

"C'mon, come to bed." She whispered.

"What time is it?"

"1:30."

"You want me to stay?"

"Yeah, I want you to stay. I've gotten used to your snoring." She said with a snort, tugging me off the couch. "Jesus, you weigh a ton!"

I trudged behind her and was stripped down to my boxers by the time she walked out of the bathroom. She was under the blankets when I killed the bathroom light and I was pleased to see she had grabbed my shirt off the footboard of her bed and slipped it on for sleeping. I slid in next to her and dragged her close. Even in my half comatose state, feeling her ass snugged up against me was enough to get things tingling down there.

"Carlos, put that thing away." She mumbled sleepily. I chuckled into her hair and squeezed her tighter.

"No kiss?" I whispered.

She turned her face back to me and caught my lips with hers, then promptly passed out.

The next morning we woke in our usual position. She wasn't naked this time, but she had foregone pants. My shirt had ridden up on her and had a handful of her right ass cheek. The warm skin of her belly, pressed against my side. I squeezed gently and she slowly came awake, stretching against me.

"Good morning." I murmured against her forehead. Lightly kissing her there.

"Hmmmmmm." She mumbled, her face in its usual place against my neck. Her hand smoothed down my stomach and stopped just above the elastic of my shorts. I was so torn as to whether I wanted her hand to keep moving south. She had to know I was hard. It seemed like I had been perpetually hard for last four days. Her pinky finger slipped just under the elastic and my hand clenched her ass harder. One more millimeter and she'd be touching my cock. I felt her lips on my neck and she slowly kissed her way to my ear, making me shiver. "Maybe we should try one more time?" She whispered, her voice morning rough. Suddenly her whole hand was circling me, my teeth gritting against the sensation. "Just to make sure. What do you think?"

"My cock is in your hand. What do you think I think?" I worked my fingers into her panties and started to tug them down.

She pumped me gently. "It feels like you think that's a good idea."

"Yeah," I breathed. I sat up to pull her panties over her feet and moved over her, inching the shirt up as I went. That too went over my shoulder and she smiled sweetly up at me as she tugged and pulled my boxers down, finally using her toes to get them all the way gone. I bent and kissed her pouty lips, gratified to hear that hum she made. Loving the feeling of her hands smoothing all over me.

I flipped us over and guided her hips up to my face, needing to taste her again. "Ohhhhhh!" She moaned as I licked at her pussy, sliding my tongue between the folds and finding her hard little clit. She was already pretty wet, but I knew I could get her soaking before I pushed my cock in her. She was supporting her own weight with her knees, so I used two fingers to open her wider and used the other hand to cup one of her luscious tits. Her moans increased and she ground down slightly, her juices starting to drip on my chin. I sucked that clit into my mouth and flicked it hard with my tongue. I had to move both hands to her waist to keep her where I wanted her as her body stiffened with the added stimulation. Hearing her nearly scream my name as she fell apart over me was exactly what I needed to hear and made me so hard I could've cut diamonds with my dick.

_Best fucking sound in the world!_

I expected her to need a minute to recover, so I was surprised when she quickly maneuvered around until her face was level with my cock. I know I told her that I would never tell her not to suck me, but I opened my mouth to do just that. My mouth snapping shut when she leveled a glare at me from where she was. I leaned back on my elbows and watched instead. She gripped me around the base and held my cock upright and licked along the entire length. I felt my toes curl up and my fingers clenched the sheets under them. Fighting to keep my eyes open, I watched as her lips wrapped around the head and then she took me in deep. Her eyes locked with mine the entire time.

"Fuuuuuuuuck!" I saw the corners of her mouth tip up at my reaction and she hummed around me. She slowly bobbed up and down, sucking hard, licking with her flattened tongue, using her hand on the base, making my vision blur. She had my balls tingling in just a few minutes and I had a pretty serious internal battle as to whether I was going to stop her before I came down her throat, or got to ram my cock inside her. My hands had migrated until they were cradling her face and just before I reached the point of no return I urged her off of me. More than coming in her mouth I wanted to see her ride me one more time, you know, for the sake of procreation.

She looked shocked that I stopped her. "What's wrong?"

I didn't answer, too fucking horny for words. I grabbed her thigh and threw it over my hip, held my cock up and guided her down on me.

"I need this." I managed to grit out. I laid back and contented myself with watching the play of muscle in her legs as she slowly raised herself up and re-impaled herself on me, my hand palming her tit and my other inching toward her sex. Knowing exactly what to do to get her coming all over me. She leaned back and rested her hands just above my knees, opening her up further. My thumb found her slippery clit and I made quick circles around it. I couldn't tear my eyes away from where we were connected. Hypnotized by the sight of me, shiny with her wetness, disappearing deep inside her.

_Holy shit, that's beautiful._

I was so deep in a trance that I almost missed her orgasm. Almost. She snapped me out of it with the strength of her thrusts. Her body bowed backwards, tits pointing to the ceiling, the very ends of her curls softly brushing my knees, her belly quivering, her fucking noises… The pulsing of her walls clamping down on me, milking me till I saw stars.

_Goddamn… this woman! That was…_

She was still moving slightly on me as she recovered, humming appreciatively. I sat up and wrapped my arms around her, needing to feel her closer. If I have to turn in my man-card by saying that, I don't give a shit. That was fucking intense. Jamming my fingers into her hair, I brought her lips to mine, kissing her deeply. The love I felt for her right then, was stronger and way deeper than I'd ever realized. I'd known from the first time we'd had sex that this had changed everything for me, but only now did I realize how much.

She'd been the most important woman in my life since we were five, even when we were older and started dating people. She had always gotten along with any girlfriends I had had. Most of those girlfriends had been surprisingly cool with our friendship. The last woman I had dated though, was always dropping comments about the amount of time Steph and I spent together. I dismissed her words as insecurity, because nothing was happening or ever had happened with Steph. Jeanne had broken up with me after only a few months, she had cited different reasons for it, but her jealousy was always an undercurrent in our short relationship.

Our parents had spent most of our adolescence trying to get us to date, but we never had. Maybe they had been right all along, because now I knew. I didn't just love her, I was _in_ love with her, I probably always was.

_Shit._

**AN: Dun, dun, dun. Took him long enough, but my brain refused to let me write it any other way. I really love these two, they make me happy. **

**Speaking of happy, your reviews! You have no idea how much it means to me to hear your thoughts. I love every single one!**

**Let me know what you thought?**

**Love,**

**EA xoxo**


	9. Chapter 9

**You get both POV's in this update! Consider Ranger's a bonus as I only put it in here on Monday. The rest was written three months ago! I normally don't like rehashing dialogue, but he definitely needed to get his thoughts in here too.**

**See you down at the bottom.**

**They're not mine, but this plot is.**

SPOV

I know I had started that last time with him, but waking up next to him, knowing that he was hard without even having to touch him, feeling his strong body at my side and his big hand on my behind… I told myself that one more time wouldn't hurt. That even though the window for conception was closed that, maybe I'd ovulated late and we owed it to each other to be thorough. Deep down I also knew that was total bullshit. Why didn't I stop him when he pulled me up to straddle his face? Or, shit, when I tried to suck his perfect dick down my throat? Moreover, why was I still thinking about it almost two weeks later? More than the sex, it was the way that he kissed me after that last round that had my heart fluttering every time I thought about it.

That kiss and the way it made me feel was the whole reason I tried to put some physical distance between us. We had still hung out that day, but I'd engineered an outing with friends. Saying that, with Lula due in less than a week, we needed to do one last grown up activity. I needed a buffer there to stop me from jumping on him again. I needed for us to get back to the way we always were. Hoping beyond hope that we'd managed to make a baby. Another month of this and I would be so in… in trouble.

That distance had worked too, we hadn't had any more sleepovers, or kisses, well no big kisses, just goodnight ones. We had had dinner together most nights and we talked like we always did. Maybe we touched more than we used to, but we had always been pretty affectionate. That was something that had always been a point of contention between Joe and me. All in all I'd say that was to be expected considering what we had done together. I'd been hoping the ridiculously strong attraction I was feeling would ebb a bit, but so far it hadn't, it might have even gotten deeper. But again, I'd expected that too. After all, he was going to be the father of our child. I figured after a while of keeping my hands to myself that that would fade too and everything would go the way we had planned.

It stands to reason that today I would have a hard time focusing on work. Today was D-Day. He was going to come over and I was going to take the test. Four of them actually, I couldn't decide which one to get at the store, so I bought four of them. Hence the reason why I'm sitting at my desk, staring at a graph of data for an upcoming court case and not absorbing any of it.

And if I drank any more water, my bladder was going to explode.

I didn't feel all that different than I did when my period was coming. My breasts were tender and fuller, and I was bloated. I never really got them, so the absence of cramps wasn't indicative of anything. But I did get teary last night watching a dog adoption commercial, but come on, those puppies are cute! Also, not unusual for PMS for me. I was only surprised that Carlos had managed not to tease me about the crying, truly a herculean act for him. He had just cuddled me into his side.

And, so comfy was I in that warm spot that I passed out before the game had finished. Admittedly, that was not the norm for me. If my Rangers were in overtime, I was usually far too busy biting my nails and yelling at the TV to fall asleep like that.

Giving up on the pretense of work, I threw my coat on, slipped back into my boots and left for the day. Tank, or rather Dr. Boulanger here at work, knew something was up, but was way too absorbed in the now-late-and-hopefully-any-day birth of his first child to really get into it with me. I waved as I passed his office and got a nod in return. One day soon he'd corner me, but not today.

I parked next to Carlos' car in the driveway and ran inside, finding him pacing a hole in the hardwood floor of the living room. He crossed to me in three strides and pulled me in close for a hug.

"Oh god, let me go! I have to pee so badly!" He backed away, hands up in a gesture of surrender.

"Go!" He chuckled, following me up the stairs.

He started into the bathroom before I could close the door. "You are not watching me pee!" I gasped. I had my legs crossed and was dancing on the spot, but there was no way he was going to stand there while I tinkled into a cup.

"I wasn't going to watch, Steph, I just want to be here when you take the test."

"Out! You can come back in when I'm done." He opened his mouth to argue, but I cut him off. "You can help me dip the tests okay?"

He rolled his eyes. "Gee, how could I resist that?"

I huffed and pushed on his chest… His warm, solid chest_. _

I was already pulling my pants and undies down as I shoved the door closed. Grabbing the plastic cup I sat and did the greatest number one in the history of all number ones. Very carefully, I set the cup down on the vanity. Carlos was already opening the door before I could finish yelling "Done!"

Grabbing the bag off the floor, he started pulling out the tests. "Good thing you brought home the big specimen cup, Babe. How many tests did you buy?"

"Shut up, I wanted to be sure." I muttered with a reluctant smile. He bumped my hip with his and kissed the top of my head. He handed me a box and we got busy ripping off cellophane and reading instructions. We dipped the tests and set our phone timers and I finally took off my coat and ran to my room to change.

So in a hurry to get back to the tests, that I was stuck, hopping on one foot, one leg in and one leg out of my pants, blouse untucked and unbuttoned. "Take a deep breath, Steph," Carlos said, moving to help. "The results aren't going to be any different just because you changed in a hurry." He bent and grabbed my pants, gently pushing me back to sit on the bed, he pulled them and my right boot off.

"I can't decide if I'm scared or excited," I told him. "I'm so fucking edgy right now."

"Yeah, I noticed," he said, smiling at me, his gaze, drifting down to my exposed body. "Want me to help you relax?" He said with a silly eyebrow wiggle.

I sucked in a breath, because did I ever, and this was the first time he'd even hinted at anything sexual since that Saturday morning two weeks ago. I stared at his darkened eyes for a second, seeing the truth. "You are so funny!" I dodged. Jumping up, I hustled past him and pulled some jeans and a long-sleeved tee-shirt on.

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry when I heard the first timer alert go off. I turned to him wide-eyed and my heart in my throat. He grabbed my hand and smiled big. "Come on. Let's go see."

"Ummmm." He pulled on my hand and turned, but I was suddenly frozen on the spot.

"Steph?"

"I can't move!"

"Yes you can." He said resolutely.

"No, I can't!"

Sighing, he turned back to me. "No matter what, I'm here. Okay?" He cupped my cheek and kissed my forehead. I nodded mutely. He tugged again and my feet finally unglued from the floor. His phone timer sounded as we moved into the bathroom, signaling that all the tests were ready to be read.

_It's okay if they're negative, it's okay if they're negative, it's okay if they're negative._

"Steph."

_There's always next month, there's always next month, there's always next month._

"Babe."

_We can try again, we can try again, we can try again._

"Steph open your eyes." _It'll be… _"Babe, look!"

My eyes snapped open at his tone. The look on his face told me what they said without even looking at the tests.

I'd seen Carlos' face really, really happy many times before, like when we were six and he got his first Nintendo system for Christmas, or when he turned 17 two months before me and showed up at the end of school in his car to drive me home, and then there was the time when he returned from his last ever deployment and saw every single family member and all of his friends waiting at the airport for him to finally get the hell home. All of those happy faces paled to the look on his gorgeous mug right that second, his smile was actually dazzling.

"Stephanie, look." I dragged my eyes from his and looked down at his hand. He was holding up two different tests. One with a plus sign and one showing two lines.

_Holy shit!_

"Babe, say something." His grin was dimming, worry creeping into his eyes. I was gaping silently at him, doing my fish out of water impression. "Steph?"

"I'm, I'm… pregnant?" I whispered. He bit his lip and nodded. "You actually got me pregnant? On our first try?" My voice incredulous, but gaining some volume. The smile was back, he was proud of himself. Rightly so, I guess.

_I'm pregnant._

"On our first try!" He carefully laid the tests on the counter and stepped in front of me, his hands sliding around my waist.

"Yes. Babe, we did it." He murmured, folding his arms around me, holding me tightly. I laid my cheek on his chest, trying to let it sink in. "Are you happy?" He asked softly.

I nodded against him, but answered him anyway. "I'm so, so happy Carlos. Completely shocked, but incredibly happy." I looked up at him, he was still beaming. Reaching up to touch him, I cradled his cheek, his hands automatically holding me tighter. "Thank-you." I whispered around the sudden lump in my throat, blinking fast against the prickling behind my eyes. "Thank-you."

"Anything." He said sincerely. He slid a hand up my side and cupped the back of my head. He lowered his face as I raised up on my toes, knowing that he was going to kiss me, needing it. I closed my eyes before he actually touched my lips with his, worried that I would really lose it and go full on ugly cry. I was finally pregnant. There was a human being growing inside of me. He or she was half of me and half of Carlos. He gave me this. The smile that spread across my face at that moment stopped me from kissing him the way I wanted to. But it just wouldn't go away. He mirrored it with one of his own and rested his forehead against mine, both of us grinning like loons.

He kissed me one more time, softly, reverently, and backed away an inch or so. "Now we just have to tell our parents."

I slumped face forward into his chest. His hands automatically rubbing up and down my back. "Can we wait until next Thursday? They're all coming over for Thanksgiving anyway." That meant we had one week to figure out how to tell his parents and mine that after all these years we were having a baby together, but… we weren't _together _together.

This was the only part of the whole process I wasn't looking forward to.

RPOV

I wouldn't say my realization that I was in love with Steph had thrown me for a loop, it actually made a weird kind of sense once I figured it out. I would say, though, that I spent a crazy amount of time, in the next two weeks, thinking back over the course of our friendship. How the hell could I have not seen this before? It didn't feel new, but I didn't think it happened the first time Steph shared her crayons with me in kindergarten either. Just, somewhere in the middle of a lifetime of laughter and sunshine I had fallen really, really hard for her. My idiot brain had just needed a figurative cartoon anvil to be dropped on it to get that.

And as much as I tried to not focus on the 'when?' question, I found myself reminiscing at odd times. Could it have been that summer when we were 10? We had been running in my backyard at dusk, catching fireflies. She turned to me, triumphant, finger extended, tiny glowing bug on the tip. The setting sun casting a golden halo behind her, framing her glowing face. I remember thinking that she was the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen, like steal your breath stunning. That opinion had never changed.

Or could it have been the time her freshmen year boyfriend had made her cry and she had run to me for comfort? I had been more than willing to hold her and dry her tears and listen to how much boys sucked, knowing that she automatically excluded me from that group. Not that she didn't think of me as a boy, more that I was _me _and she knew I wouldn't ever hurt her like that. She didn't find out until two years later that I had cornered that asshole, Dickie, in the locker room after gym and given him a beat-down for hurting her. Really, if you could date someone like Steph, and nearly every guy in our grade wanted to, why the fuck would you hook up with someone like Joyce Barnhart?

Or, how about when we were 16? I had had mono and I was out of school for over a month. Steph brought me my schoolwork every day, she would sit on my bed, watching TV with me until she had to go home or break her curfew, never once worried that she would get sick too. She just didn't want me to be lonely.

I just couldn't narrow it down to a single moment, not one light-bulb instant of clarity.

I guess the inevitable conclusion was that it was always there, since the beginning.

The two intervening weeks between my Wile E Coyote moment and Test Day had been frustrating to say the least. She had thrown up a wall between us after that last mind-blowing time and I knew she wouldn't handle it well if I told her right now.

Pathetic though it might be, I was just glad that she was still being affectionate. We had gone to South Street in Philly that Saturday with Tank and Lula, enjoying a warm late fall day with our friends. Lula hoping that all the walking would kick start her labor. Tank so protective that I don't think his arm ever left her expanded-beyond-belief waist. I really couldn't chirp him about that as my hand seemed to be cemented to Steph's the entire day, and by her initiation too.

Her boundary seemed more around kissing, which really sucked, kissing her was fucking amazing, but at least we still touched a lot. Just by unspoken mutual agreement, intimate areas were no-go zones. We sat closer than we used to and were together nearly every day after work. That wall saw me alone in my own bed every night, not that she kicked me out of her house. I just knew that if I stayed over I would end up mauling her and I was trying really hard to respect what we had agreed on from the beginning. For us to go back to normal.

I found myself staring at her a lot. Waiting for some outward sign that she was in fact pregnant, I suppose. It wasn't until the night before Test Day that I picked up on several big clues. I had gotten to her house ahead of her and had ordered in. Steph got home from work about ten minutes before the opening face-off of the Rangers game and trudged exhaustedly upstairs to change. She was generally a very energetic person, so her slow pace was clue #1 especially when a game was about to start.

Clue #2 nearly made me swallow my tongue. When she came back downstairs, she was wearing her usual tight-on-her-ass workout pants, but she had skipped the lucky Rangers sweatshirt, in favor of a tight little t-shirt. I could very clearly make out the outline of her bra and the new, but very fucking sexy, little bulge of her breasts as they slightly spilled over the top of that bra.

_Shit._

Clue #3 was definitely the sniffles that started up during an ASPCA commercial. I pulled her into her into my side and nearly strained something not commenting on the tears I could feel soaking into my shirt. Past experience with my sister's pregnancies forbade me from doing anything but rub her arm consolingly. Apparently pregnant women don't like being called out on their emotional instability. That had been a painful lesson to learn.

Clue #4 tied into clue #1. Steph fell asleep while the game was in overtime. Believe me this was unprecedented. She wasn't dozing either, she was out cold, leaning heavily against my side, breathing deeply kind of sleeping. I managed to rouse her just enough that I didn't have to actually pick her up and carry her up the stairs.

So, by the time I left that night to go home I had it pretty much figured out, but I didn't say a word. My beautiful scientist would want to figure it out the empirical way. With, I'm sure, at least more than one test.

Fortunately for me, my entire day was booked with patients. Fortunately for them, I had figured out to compartmentalize for the most part and I was pretty proud of the work that I got done that day. Two of my veterans had real break-throughs during our sessions. They had been emotionally and physically drained when they left my office, but they were moving along in their recovery really, really well.

I was early getting to her house and I couldn't sit still, I unloaded her dishwasher and fixed the leaky kitchen faucet and the wobbly leg on a kitchen chair. With nothing left to do but wait for her the anticipation kicked in and I started pacing. She bounded in, the polar opposite of yesterday. Excited energy practically bursting off of her.

I dragged her into me and she squeaked, "Oh god, let me go! I have to pee so badly!"

"Go!" I laughed and followed her up to her bathroom.

She whirled as I went to tail her in, all indignant. "You are not watching me pee!"

"I wasn't going to watch, Steph, I just want to be here when you take the test," I argued.

"Out! You can come back in when I'm done." I opened my mouth to argue, but she cut me off. "You can help me dip the tests okay?"

Wow, just what I'd always wanted to do. "Gee, how could I resist that?"

She sighed, pushed me out of the bathroom and closed the door.

It was actually really amusing how long it took her to yell "Done!" She had to have been holding that in forever.

I grabbed the bag off the floor and started pulling out box after box of pregnancy tests. "Good thing you brought home the big specimen cup, Babe. How many tests did you buy?" I asked her, setting them down on her vanity top.

"Shut up, I wanted to be sure." She muttered with a wry smile. It took a few minutes to get everything set up and she went into her room to change. She didn't bother to shut her door. So, I took the opportunity to be a creeper and watch her get undressed.

In her rush, she was stuck hopping around top open and gaping, pants half-on and stuck in her right boot. I couldn't take it anymore, "Take a deep breath, Steph. The results aren't going to be any different just because you changed in a hurry." I pushed her back onto the bed and tugged off her boot, finally freeing her from her pants. Trying to pry my eyes away from those goddamn tits.

"I can't decide if I'm scared or excited. I'm so fucking edgy right now," she breathed excitedly.

"Yeah, I noticed," I said, my eyes involuntarily taking in the rest of her almost naked glory. "Want me to help you relax?" I, sort of, joked.

She saw right through my lame attempt at humor and laughed a little uncomfortably, "You are so funny!" She hopped up and threw some clothes on, obscuring one of my most favorite views in the world.

Just as she buttoned her jeans the timer on her phone beeped and she looked at me wide-eyed, her features colored with panic.

I grabbed her hand, so frigging excited. "Come on. Let's go see."

I started across the room, but she didn't move.

What the hell? "Steph?"

"I can't move!"

"Yes you can." Seriously? Now she's going to freeze up?

"No, I can't!" She whispered urgently.

I turned back to her. "No matter what, I'm here. Okay?" I kissed her forehead. She nodded and finally followed me into the bathroom. My phone timer went off as we crossed the threshold.

All the tests were done. _Holy shit!_

I grabbed the first one.

_Holy shit!_

And then another.

_Holy shit! _

Steph had her eyes tight shut, muttering something to herself.

"Steph." She either didn't hear me or she was totally ignoring me.

"Babe." Still nothing.

"Steph open your eyes." Nothing, "Babe, look!"

Her eyes finally snapped open, god knows what my face looked like, I just knew my cheeks were killing me. Floored that we had actually done it!

"Stephanie, look." She slowly looked down at the two positive tests I was holding out for her to see. Her mouth was open, and her eyes were a little glazed and I was getting worried.

"Babe, say something, Steph?"

"I'm, I'm… pregnant?" She whispered. Damn straight. I nodded, trying not to look too smug. "You actually got me pregnant? On our first try?" Her voice was dubious, but was getting louder. That pretty smile emerging.

_Holy shit, she's pregnant._

"On our first try!" She almost crowed. Truthfully, it happened somewhere on our first ten tries, but yes, on our first try.

I put the tests down and slid my hands around her waist. "Yes. Babe, we did it," I murmured, pulling her in tight. Smiling when I felt her relax into me. "Are you happy?"

She nodded, still squeezing me tight, "I'm so, so happy Carlos. Completely shocked, but incredibly happy," she beamed up at me. Reaching up, she cupped my cheek and whispered, "Thank-you." Tears welled in her eyes and my throat started to burn in response. "Thank-you."

_Shit, I might actually cry here._

I swallowed hard. "Anything," I told her.

I cupped the back of her head and met her as she rose on her toes, fucking dying to kiss her. I watched her eyes slide shut as I finally got my lips on her again. While I wanted so badly to slowly peel off the clothes she had just thrown on, to really show her how I felt, I managed to keep it fairly chaste. Made easier when I felt her grin pull her lips away from mine. I couldn't help but smile back.

_We were having a baby together! Holy shit!_

I rested my forehead against hers and let myself look at her for a beat. Indulging in one more kiss, I had a sobering thought, "Now we just have to tell our parents."

She slumped forward and groaned, "Can we wait until next Thursday? They're all coming over for Thanksgiving anyway."

I wasn't one for procrastination, but she was definitely onto something with that idea there. I know every member of our families would be happy for us, but telling them collectively would be immeasurably better. Greater still, we could get both sets of parents at once and no one would feel slighted.

"Sure, Babe," I agreed. "That'll work." I held her arms out and looked her over. Her clothes would work just fine for where I wanted to take her. "Put some shoes on, we need to go celebrate."

She nodded, popped up and kissed me quick. "See? I was so right when I called you a stud!" I laughed and felt my ego inflate a tiny bit and I followed her exuberant self out of the house.

**I wasn't going to get her knocked up right away, but a very dear friend told me she was un-expectedly expecting baby number two the day I started this chapter. Her beautiful baby number one took years, major medical intervention and a lot of heartbreak to conceive. So, to celebrate, I made our couple as fertile as my hubby and I ;) In fact, most of Steph's pregnancy happenings will adhere to my first pregnancy. My second was even easier, especially the delivery, but I don't think Steph and Ranger need to have a 10lb 6oz baby for their first child! Steph's vag would never recover!**

**I now everyone's anxious for her to realize she's in love too, but these two are dealing essentially with nearly thirty years of denial. She needs a little more time to logic it out. I only write HEA's so relax and enjoy.**

**My favorite part of this whole chapter was the image that popped into my head when I wrote the firefly chasing. So effing sweet and innocent! I love the idea of them sharing all these memories.**

**Tell me the part that stuck out the most for you? Or tell me your funny pregnancy stories, or favorite ones you've heard? **

**In any case, tell me what you thought. I love to read your words!**

**Thanks for reading,**

**Love, **

**EA xoxo**


	10. Chapter 10

**Holy moly ladies, your stories were so funny! The Ranger-like dad having more pregnancy symptoms than his wife took the cake! I have to say, as a group we all have to have had the biggest babies ever. When my second son was born weighing over 10lbs, I was told he was the biggest born there for the previous two months. Some of yours were bigger yet!**

**Sorry if the beginning of this is a little repetitive from the end of last week's update. He's still getting used to the idea.**

**If you catch any errors, I apologize. We were up to the wee hours putting together a massive loft bed for our youngest. In case you were wondering, when Ikea tells you they will assemble your furniture for a nominal price, take it. We're pretty handy and it's **_**still**_** not finished!**

**Sadly these two aren't mine, I just borrow them and make them do fun and dirty things ;)**

RPOV

I'm going to be a father.

I am going to be a father. Me… a dad.

I mean, obviously, that's what I'd been trying to achieve every time that I fucked her, made love to her, had sex with her, whatever you want to call it. That had been our goal all along, but it hadn't ever felt like it was just for procreation's sake. I know that it had been more than that for her too. Probably, that was the reason for the little bit of distance she'd wedged between us these last few weeks. Stephanie had never been one for breaking the status quo. She wasn't a stickler for order, but huge changes in her life made her anxious. She was dealing with the shift in our dynamic pretty well, but I was keeping my revelation to myself. She already knew I loved her. She just didn't know that I was in love with her and I wasn't planning on telling her anytime soon.

Early Thanksgiving morning I let myself into her house. She had found a recipe online for a supposedly foolproof turkey roasting experience and had planned on getting up at seven to get the bird in the oven. I was surprised to find that the house was quiet and still. I headed up the stairs and pushed her door open. She was out cold, face-down spread-eagle on her bed. One of my t-shirts on her sleeping form (I had no idea she had so many of them) and it had ridden half way up her back. Her luscious ass, right there, covered by a tiny pair of panties, just begging for me to bite it. Giving my head a shake, I crossed the room and stroked a finger down her face. She sighed and stirred, but didn't open her eyes. I couldn't resist anymore and kicked off my shoes, climbed in beside her and pulled the blankets up over us. Steph snuggled right in and slung her leg over me. Making that contented hum she makes into my neck. At the risk of sounding pussy-whipped, this was the most comfortable I'd felt in the three weeks since I'd last been in this bed. It was just something about how she fit against me; that made everything… fuck… perfect.

_Jesus, do I have it bad or what?_

She tensed and stretched and hummed again. "When did you get here?" She mumbled.

"Just now. I thought you were getting up early to cook the turkey."

"I am." She stretched again. "What time is it?"

"8:00."

She sat bolt upright. "Shit! I have to get up!" She fought with the blanket for a second. "The turkey has to cook for nearly six hours!" I climbed out of bed and followed her downstairs and into the garage. She opened the fridge and I was a little amazed by the massive turkey inside. There was only twelve of us eating dinner here. That thing looked like it could feed thirty, easily.

She was still only in my shirt so when she bent to grab the damn thing I got a little hypnotized by her ass. Her grunt as she tried to pull the tray out of the fridge snapped me out of it and I stopped her with a hand on her back.

"Go, put some clothes on, Babe. I'll handle this."

"I got it in here," she said defiantly.

"Now I'll get it. Go put something on your feet at least." She huffed and gave me a watered down glare. The urge to kiss her was so strong right then and she must've seen it on my face. She backed up a step, cheeks flushed a deep pink.

"Um, can you just bring it in and leave it on the counter, I'll be, uh, right down." I nodded and she disappeared through the door. Grabbing the pan, I heaved it up and got it into the kitchen as she bounded back down the stairs, slippered and sweatpanted. Still with my shirt on and, shit, still no bra. I had noticed before we even got the test results last week that her boobs were a bit bigger, slightly spilling out of her bra as I helped her get free of her pants. I knew now, after spending the last week studying every pregnancy book available, that they were only going to get bigger. That even as early as this week, she was going to be exhausted, she was going to feel the urge to pee all the time and be moody. Maybe even starting to feel nauseous. But those tits were going to taunt me the entire pregnancy. They were my kryptonite when we were trying to conceive, full and firm with perky little nipples, all with the smoothest skin that I just could not stop touching. So fucking lush.

They looked so damn mouthwatering right now, swaying slightly with each of her movements as she bustled around the kitchen, her nipples protruding through my shirt.

"Carlos!" She laughed, "Stop staring at my boobs and come and help me."

My eyes flashed up to hers and I tried to drum up some embarrassment at getting caught ogling, but couldn't manage it.

"Can you cut open the bag and get the turkey in the sink? I have to rinse it and dry it and then rub it all over with butter."

"Okay." That should be enough to get rid of this hard-on. She stood next to me at the sink as I cut through the bag. Gasping she clapped her hand over her mouth as the smell of vinegar and spices leaked out.

"What is all this, Babe?" I looked over at her, noticing that she was turning green. "You okay?"

She nodded, eyes fixed on the turkey. "It's brine. It's supposed to make the turkey taste good." She stumbled back a few steps. "The smell didn't bother me when I put it in there on Tuesday. Can you take the turkey out and rinse it, then dry it off?" She pointed to the paper towels and left the kitchen in a hurry.

I did as she asked and then went one step further by throwing the liquid the bird had been marinating in, down the garbage disposal. She had a roasting pan set out so I plunked it in there, scrubbed my hands and went to find her. She wasn't in the living room or study, or her bedroom, her bathroom door was closed and locked and mysteriously silent.

I knocked softly. "You okay?"

"Yeah, fine. I'll be down in a minute." She croaked, not sounding fine in any way.

"Let me in, Babe." The lock clicked and I opened the door, she was kneeling in front of the toilet. Looking like she was about to hurl.

"You don't need to see this." She moaned, heaving a bit. We'd done this drill the morning after quite a few parties and bar crawls in our twenties. I knew what needed to be done. I grabbed one of her hair ties and pulled her hair into a sloppy pony tail and rubbed my hand up and down her back. The heaves turned into actual upchucking and she tried to push me out of the room. Not only was I not grossed out, but I was feeling like an asshole for my part in her being sick right now.

"Stop trying to get me to go," I told her. She gave up and concentrated on puking. There wasn't much I could do other than rub her back and tell her it would be okay, so that's what I did. When she was finally done, I helped her up and held her around her waist while she caught her breath. She was ghost white and tears were streaming down her face and that feeling of being an asshole for getting her into this increased.

I looked at her reflection in the mirror and caught her eyes. "I'm sorry, Babe." I told her.

She looked incredulous. "For what?" I waved my hand in the direction of the toilet. She just rolled her eyes. "Don't be ridiculous. Just another little reminder that I am in fact knocked up." A small grin appearing on her lips.

"Another reminder?"

"Yep. My boobs are killing me, I have to go and get new bras, all my old ones are too small and I'm falling out of them. I meant to go last night, but by the time I got out of work I was freaking exhausted and I came straight home instead." She sighed and straightened up. "Okay, you can let go now. I have so much to do!"

Her color was returning to normal, but I still didn't want her to overdo it. All the books had said that the next five or six weeks would be very physically draining for her. I watched as she grabbed her toothbrush and scrubbed her teeth. "I'll make you a deal. You tell me what to do with all the food and you sit and relax."

"You? You are going to cook? Get the hell outta' here. I'm fine now. I actually feel really good," she said, looking pretty bouncy.

"I can cook!" I argued as I followed her down the stairs.

She turned around and stopped me with a hand on my chest. Her new favorite gesture. "You have a five meal repertoire, all of which include some type of steamed vegetable and some type of fish. This is Thanksgiving, every dish is supposed to be loaded with butter and other yummy things. I'm fine now." She turned and cautiously approached the turkey. It was just sitting there innocuously, waiting to be roasted. She stopped three paces from the counter, staring at it.

I stood behind her, looking over the top of her head. "What?"

"The smell." She whispered. I couldn't stop the grin that broke out.

"Go sit at the table and tell me what to do." I dug through her cabinets until I found some crackers and handed them to her. "Put something in your stomach, it's supposed to help. I can't believe how much trouble our little bean is giving you already." She took them and plunked herself in a chair on the far side of the table.

"Bean?"

"The books say that he or she's about the size of an apple seed or lentil right now and in two weeks he'll be the size of a bean. It's what I've been calling the baby in my head ever since I saw that."

She grinned at me. "You really are excited about this aren't you?"

"I really am," I agreed. We grinned goofily at each other for a beat. The urge to kiss her was back with a vengeance. I cleared my throat and looked for a distraction.

Oh, yeah, the turkey.

"Alright, tell me what I'm doing with this thing."

She walked me through the process and I felt pretty accomplished when I slid it into the oven. She stood and stretched and slowly approached me. Stepping closer she leaned forward and sniffed my shirt. "At least _you_ still smell good to me," and wrapped her arms around my neck. "Thank-you for taking care of me." She reached up and kissed my cheek. My eyes sliding closed at the sensation.

"It's your job to cook our baby," I said, letting my hand slide down her belly. "It's my job to take care of you. I'm going to run to the store for a few things. Do you need anything for later?"

"Yes! There's a list on the fridge. I'm going to hop in the shower. See you in a little bit?" I nodded, she tiptoed up and kissed my cheek again and I turned and left before I joined her in that shower. It had been nearly three weeks now since we had last had sex and I was jonesing for her, big time.

Crazy isn't it? Nearly thirty years of friendship and hardly ever a lusty thought, well, except during puberty… and my early twenties. What? Steph had never had an awkward growth phase in her life. She's beautiful, inside and out. Four days filled with sex and I can't stop thinking about it now. I think about her as soon as I wake up in the morning, and last thing at night. She's even starred in my dreams.

_Fuck, pussy-whipped might be too mild a term for what I got going on here. _

I mean, here I am in the grocery store at 9:00 am Thanksgiving morning with the other last minute shoppers, getting all the stuff she forgot and needs for today, _and_ searching for every product with the word ginger in it. I pulled up the pregnancy app I had just put on my phone and bought every food item they suggested to help with morning sickness. I really didn't like seeing her being so sick this morning.

By the time I got back to her house, she was showered and dressed in jeans and her Rutgers football jersey, ready for the post-dinner family football game.

"What's all this?" She asked as she started pulling out items from the bags. "You are so cute, you know that?" She held up her ginger ale and ice pops and gave me that smile.

_Fuck, I love her!_

She was standing close, so I pulled her closer and just held her there. Gratified to feel her melt a little into me, hugging me back just as tight. I released her and took a reluctant step back.

"Okay, what other smelly things do you want me to do?"

"Nothing yet. Let's get all this put away and go watch the parade." She said.

I was surprised when, instead of her taking the opposite side of the couch like she usually did, Steph sat herself so close to my side that she was almost in my lap. I wrapped my arm around her and rested my hand on her hip. She flicked the TV on revealing some presenters all bundled up and sitting outside of Macy's in Herald Square, blathering on about whatever boy band was headlining the parade. I paid them no mind, my brain was entirely focused on the woman curled up next to me. My hand wormed its way under her jersey and to just under her belly button, trying to detect the slightest difference. Smirking to myself when her breath stuttered when I touched her.

Without really thinking about what I was doing, I wiggled my fingers under the waistband of her jeans. Her hand landed on top of my wrist, stopping any further downward motion.

"What are you doing?" She whispered tremulously.

I looked at her, her face inches from mine. "I just want to see if I can feel anything."

"You're not going to feel anything yet." She countered.

"Lay across me?" I asked, patting my lap. "I want to see." That earned an eye roll but she did as I asked. She sucked in a breath when my fingers slipped under the clasp of her jeans. My eyes flew to hers and she smiled weakly at me. I unzipped her pants and pushed the two sides away, just making out the top of her underwear.

_Shit, those are the ones she wore the first time we were together._

Focusing on what I was supposed to be doing, I flattened my hand just above her pubic bone, behind which sat our tiny baby. It was disappointing that there was no outward sign of it, but soon enough there would be indisputable proof.

Her hand came to rest on top of mine and I looked up at her beaming face. Her cheeks were pink and her eyes were sparkling, and she looked so fucking pretty and happy. All my guilt from this morning slipped away, because_ I_ helped her get this way. Moreover she had asked me, not anyone else, me. And I was so glad that she did.

"We made a baby together." I whispered. She bit her lip and nodded. Her fingers squeezing my hand still on her belly. "I still can't believe it. I mean, I know he's in there, but… you know?"

"That's what I meant about reminders this morning. Unless I accidentally bump my boob, or I guess we can now add smelling something weird, I don't feel all that different." She squirmed a bit and tugged at the cup of her bra through her jersey.

"Can I?"

"What?"

"Take a look." Motioning to her breasts.

She sighed and shifted again. "Yes, just try not to touch them. It's such a bizarre sensation."

"I'll be careful." And I was apparently masochistic. I'd get to look at, but not touch my kryptonite. Using both hands I lifted her jersey up, careful to not come into contact with them. They were a little bigger than they were last week, fuller. I broke my promise almost immediately and very, very gently traced a new blue vein on the slope of her right breast. She sucked in a breath and my finger lost contact with her warm skin. "I'm sorry. Did I hurt you?"

Her eyes were darkening, I knew her well enough to recognize what that meant. "No." She whispered. Emboldened by her reaction I touched that same finger to that sexy bulge over the edge of her bra. She sucked in another breath, but didn't move away from my touch this time. Her cheeks flushed darker as she watched me. I hooked my finger into the cup and tugged it down, letting her breast pop out. I might have whimpered.

Very gently, I traced her nipple with my fingertip. My mouth actually watered, watching it draw tighter and hearing that hum slip out of her mouth.

I heard a key scrape in the lock one second before my second mother's voice echoed from the foyer. "Guys, come and help me get the stuff out of the car."

"Be right there." Steph called as I tried to get her boob back in her bra. She smacked my hand away and put herself back together. I trailed behind her and headed out to her mom's Buick. Getting a big hug from the little lady, I made sure to keep my lower body far enough away from her to prevent accidental contact. There are some things that mothers don't need to know, like that her daughter had just made me rock hard simply by letting me sort of innocently feel her up.

It was really weird to be 34 years old and feel like we'd just been caught making out on the couch by our parents.

"Can you get those bags, Carlos?" She asked, patting my cheek when I nodded. "Be careful with the one with the milk, the handle is fraying." She turned to Steph. "You sure you're okay? You look flushed."

"I'm fine. How come you're four hours early?" Steph asked, grabbing one of the bags out of my hand.

"I wanted to help you. You told me last night how tired you've been this week," she told Steph. She hoisted a bag over her shoulder and headed inside. We exchanged a wide eyed look. Ten minutes later and Steph's mom would've interrupted much more than just me touching her breast.

We had agreed that we would stop having sex after we conceived, but just because my brain knew that, didn't mean my dick, and yeah, my heart, knew that too. Shit, at this point, my brain wanted to ravage her as well. Evidenced by the fact that my eyes were so busy watching her ass as she ascended her front steps, that I tripped over the curb and nearly face-planted on her front walk.

"You okay?" She called from her porch.

"Yep. Fine."

She waited for me to climb the steps and popped up and kissed my cheek again. "Who knew you were so clumsy."

We were in the kitchen together a few hours later, having a whispered conversation on the timing of our announcement.

"We should tell everyone when we do the whole 'what we're grateful for' thing." She said.

"You know that's going to lead to an hour long demand for an explanation. We should wait until after dinner."

"I'm too nervous, I won't be able to eat. I want to get it out there. They're going to be happy though, right?"

"Yeah, they are. Are you kidding?" I snorted. "My mom has been trying to get us together since 4th grade."

"Mine too. The not dating thing is going to kill them though."

_Goddammit, every time she says something like that, my stomach fucking plummets._

"Yeah," I agreed. Swallowing hard.

"Stephanie, where are the… Is everything alright?" Steph's mom bustled in and asked. We were standing very close together, Steph's hands worrying the rubbery number on the front of my jersey, my hands on her lower back. "Something's up here, tell me." Her eagle eyes swept from Steph to me and back again. She stepped forward and put her palm on Steph's forehead. "You're sick aren't you? Oh my god, you have to tell me."

"Mom, stop, you're being ridiculous. I'm fine. We were just talking, that's all." Steph stepped away from me and opened the fridge. "What were you looking for?"

Helen's gaze drifted between the two of us for a beat before I saw awareness wash over her face and she shook her head minutely. "The napkin rings. I wanted to know if you have napkin rings."

"Yeah, they're in the sideboard. I'll show you."

I leaned back against the counter and took a deep breath, pretty sure that her mom had just figured some part of us out. We didn't usually cuddle and whisper our conversations to each other.

**Hope that was enough sweetness for all of you, quick go brush your teeth and come back and review!**

**I don't know about all of you, but when I was preggo, my biggest complaints were my insanely tender boobs and really, really bad heartburn. Do you know how many times I heard that my baby would have tons of hair? He was bald and smooth as a cue ball! Silly old wives tale!**

**Let me know what you thought, pretty please?**

**Thanks for reading,**

**Love,**

**EA xoxo**


	11. Chapter 11

**Teaser at the bottom for something new ;)**

**As for all the others I have going on right now, I'm still working on them. Its slow going though, so, pretty please, stick with me?**

**Meanwhile, some fluffy sweetness to make you smile.**

**I own only this plot.**

SPOV

Everyone was here. My parents, Carlos' parents, Juan and Maria, Grandma Mazur, my sister Valerie, her husband Albert and their four girls. Carlos' brothers, sisters and their broods of kids would be showing up later for dessert and the family football game.

I was sitting next to Carlos, my leg bouncing a mile a minute because we were working our way around the table expressing our gratitude and it would be my turn after my sister, who was speaking right now. "… And most of all, I'm grateful for my husband, who's just amazing," she gushed. I looked at Carlos and mimed gagging. My sister was the kind of woman who calls their significant other "sweetums" and "sugar-lumps" or any other term of endearment that could make you throw up in your mouth a little. He grinned and tried to hide it behind his hand, making me giggle. A throat clearing made me look away and I realized all eyes were on me, waiting for me to take my turn.

_Aaaarrrrgggg! _

I stood up and cleared my throat, hoping I didn't look as nervous as I felt. I plucked at Carlos' shirt and motioned for him to stand as well. Looking over at my mom I noticed she was absolutely beaming. Her smile only getting brighter when Carlos stood beside me. "Umm, okay. This is more an announcement than something I'm grateful for. Wait! I'm grateful too though." I stammered. Carlos grabbed my hand and squeezed it reassuringly. "Umm, the thing is…" I cleared my throat again. "I'm pregnant…"

"You two are dating…" My mom blurted at the exact same time. "Wait… what?"

"I'm pregnant. That is, we're having a baby."

_Crickets…_

Everybody, but my youngest niece was silent. She was sitting in her portable high chair noisily shoveling cheerios into her mouth.

"Together? The two of you?" My mom uttered, recovering first.

"Yes, the two of us." I confirmed.

"But you're dating too right?" Maria said from next to my mom.

"Not technically, no." I said. Carlos squeezed my hand again. I looked up at him and he smiled softly at me.

"But… how?" Mom asked.

I flicked my gaze to my oldest niece, who was watching the volley of our conversation like she was at a tennis match. "We'll talk about that later."

"How far along are you?" Maria asked as she stood, rounded the table and cupped my face.

"Five weeks today. We didn't want to wait to tell you." She wrapped her little arms around me and squeezed tight. When she let me go, there were tears in her eyes. She grabbed Carlos and hugged him even tighter, whispering to him in Spanish.

My mom was next, pulling me close. "When are you due?" Her shock wearing away, excitement quickly coloring her face.

"July 31st, I think. I have a doctor's appointment next week to confirm the date." Everyone but my dad, had stood up and congratulated us. He was sitting staring at the two of us an indecipherable expression on his face. I moved to his side and put my hand on his shoulder. "Dad?"

He looked up at me. "You're having a baby?" He asked quietly. This wasn't good. This wasn't the reaction Val had gotten when she had first announced that Angie was on her way. My parents had about lost their minds.

"Yes." I nodded.

"With Carlos." He said looking at him over my shoulder.

Carlos rested his hand lightly on my hip. "Yes," he said.

Dad shook his head as if to clear it. "You're going to have to give me a few minutes here, Pumpkin."

"Sure… Okay." I turned to go back to my seat, feeling deflated. I knew that we weren't in the classic situation, with us not even being in a romantic relationship, but I was a big time Daddy's girl and his approval meant a lot to me.

"He'll be fine with it, Babe. Just give him a few to get past the shock." Carlos said as everyone chattered excitedly and passed dishes around.

"I know," I said. "It's just that… Wait! You didn't get to say what you're grateful for!" I whispered.

"That you asked me to father our baby." He said without even having to think about it. "That's what I'm going to say every year, Babe."

Jeez, sometimes he'd say or do something that really made my heart go nuts. That was definitely one of those times.

It wasn't until later, when the kids were outside and we were loading the dishwasher, that our moms cornered us.

"So." Maria said. "What does 'not technically dating' mean?" I looked around the room for an escape and saw none.

"It uh…" I looked at Carlos.

"It means, that we made the baby together, but we're not _together_." He said, jumping in to save me.

"Why not?" My mom asked.

"Umm…" He looked at me wide-eyed.

"Because we were just trying to conceive." I said whispering the last part.

"So you did what? Used a clinic?" My mother said, sounding incredulous.

"No, we, uh, did it the traditional way. Jeez, do you really need to know all this?"

Maria turned to Carlos and smacked him lightly on the head. "You didn't even take her on a date first? Are you going to marry her? This isn't how I raised you!" She smacked him again.

He ducked away and I stood between them. "Don't be mad at him. _I_ asked _him_. We went to a clinic to find out our options. Carlos and I didn't like some of the possible complications, so we decided to try the regular way first. He's been amazingly supportive. We both want this, but we don't need to get married. We're in this together." Despite my assertions that we weren't a couple, I smiled when I felt his hands wrap around me from behind. I was still waiting for my attraction to him to wane. I don't know if it was because of the baby or not, but I felt the need to touch him a lot. And when we were on the couch earlier, feeling his hands on me again was just…

Maria was scrutinizing her oldest child's face, she silently nodded, confirming something to herself. She pulled us both into a hug and leaned her head back to look at us. "You've made me very happy." She pulled Carlos' face down to kiss his cheek and then mine. "Very happy." She ambled off to see the stream of her grandkids slowly accumulating around the dessert table. We'd tell Carlos' brothers and sisters once they all arrived.

Mom was measuring grounds and I was bringing down mugs when my dad followed the aroma of coffee into the kitchen. He came straight over to me and hugged me tight, immediately dissolving the weight I hadn't realized his disapproval had settled on me. "Don't, for one second, think I'm not happy for you, Steph. This was kind of a big shock for me. If this is what you want, then I'm behind you."

"Thank you Dad." He kissed the top of my head and pulled away.

He turned to Carlos. "Come outside and help me set up the game."

"Dad." I objected but they continued through the back door, Carlos flashing me an untroubled smile over his shoulder.

"Stephanie, it'll be okay." My mom said, patting my back. "He just wants to talk to him."

I watched as they stood on the grass, not exactly tense, but not as friendly and relaxed as they usually were. My dad standing the same height as Carlos, yet heavier around the middle. Both men could be imposing when they wanted to be, but both of them were very good guys. I don't think my dad was going to haul off and punch him for getting me pregnant, but I didn't like not knowing what they were talking about. It was a relief to see the tense lines of their shoulders relax and my dad crack a smile. He said something else to Carlos, to which he nodded and then pulled him into one of those one armed guy hugs.

"See," she said, "they're fine. So, sweetheart, how're you feeling? Tired right?"

"Hmmm?" I looked away from Carlos and my dad. "Oh, yes! By the time I get home from work, I have just enough energy to eat something and then crawl into bed."

"That'll get better by the second trimester. It was awful when I was first pregnant with you, I was so tired and your sister was past really needing naps. It won't last long. Other than that you're okay?"

"I got sick this morning getting the turkey ready. Ugh, the smell and all that pale flesh." I felt a little nausea returning at the thought of it. "Carlos had to take care of putting it in the oven. I just couldn't do it." My eyes searched him out again. My mom looked out too.

"You two aren't a couple then?" She said wistfully.

"No." I said, stifling a sigh.

"But you want to be?" She pried.

"No, maybe, I don't know." This time the sigh slipped out. "Do you know what he did today? After I got sick, he went to the store for a few last minute things. When he came back, he had bought all these things that are supposed to help with morning sickness. It was really sweet."

"He loves you, sweetheart."

"I know. Since we were little he has, just not the way you're implying."

She stared at me for a beat. "Uh-huh, you keep telling yourself that."

There was another round of explanations and big hugs when Carlos told his brothers and sisters we were expecting. There was a lot of jokes about how they always knew we would end up together. We gave up trying to correct them after a while.

In an effort to burn off the thousands of calories we'd consumed over dinner, we all trooped outside into the brisk air. This time of year had always been my favorite, between the leaves changing and the weather turning cool, Halloween and Thanksgiving, it had always made me happy. That was one of the main reasons why I always volunteered to cook for everyone. I loved having everyone here and this, right here, was the pinnacle of the entire fall season for me. The family game had started five years ago when I had first bought this house. My big back yard had drawn everyone outside after our first holiday dinner and a tradition was born.

The teams divided up without fuss, my dad, me, Carlos, my two older nieces, Angie and Mary-Alice and Carlos' brother, Juan Jr. and his three boys. We stood back while Juan Sr. organized the rest of his grandkids, his other son and daughters into a formation. We were a rag-tag bunch, but this was going to be great.

Carlos appeared at my side, "You going to be okay playing?" He asked.

"Yeah, I always play." I said surprised that he even asked. "It's not like we tackle."

"I know, it's just that…" His arm tightened on my waist and he shifted so he could place his free hand on my belly. "Be careful." He said quietly.

I opened my mouth to lay into him for feeling the need to warn me like that, but when I looked up at his face, the words died in my mouth. He was so sincere. There was no rebuke or censure there, he was feeling protective of the baby _and_ me.

I laid my hand on his chest, "We'll be okay. Okay?" He slowly smiled and nodded. "Come on, we need to spank your dad after last year." His grin turned mega-watt. His dad had banked on the fact that he had six very cute little kids on his team last year and we never really tried to get the ball away from them. This year all bets were off. All the kids had gone through huge growth spurts and, while still cute, I was feeling less inclined to hand them the game.

"I love it when you're vicious!" He said, planting a lingering kiss on my cheek. He turned to corral our team and I was left feeling a bit flustered. I looked around and noticed Celia, his sister, and Maria, looking our way and talking animatedly.

_Gee, I wonder what they're talking about. _

I was only surprised that the question of us getting married was only brought up once, and not even by my mother.

We were down to the final play of the game and we were down by 3 points. I was playing wide receiver and Carlos had shifted to tight end from his usual running back. He had already scored one touchdown, but had spent the majority of the game blocking anyone from accidentally hitting me, because, you know, seven year old little girls are brutal. We lined up and Dad backed up and lobbed the ball. I took off, knowing exactly where he was throwing it. I caught it 1 yard from the end zone and carried it over, so excited that I had just won us the game. Next thing I knew I was pulled off my feet as Carlos carried me around, doing a little touchdown celebration to the cheers of our family. Mary-Alice kicked the field goal over the make-shift posts and we took our victorious asses in to the warm house for a second round of pie and coffee, well, I had decaf.

I woke with a start to the sound of dishes rattling in the kitchen. I had sat down on the couch after everyone left around 7:00, and that was the last thing I remember. Looking at the clock on the cable box, I was surprised to find it was already 9:30.

Stretching, I headed into the kitchen, really liking what I saw in there. Carlos was putting the last plate back in the cabinet and the kitchen was clean. I loved making holiday dinners, but I despised the cleanup.

"If you're going to do this all the time, you don't have to wait for the baby to come to move in," I joked.

He turned and smiled. "Yeah?" He looked good there, leaned back against the counter, still in his football jersey and jeans and shoeless socked feet. Comfortable. The warm fuzzies that were taking over were definitely clouding my judgment, my brain conjuring scenarios best left unarticulated.

I needed to change the subject here, quickly. "You want to go shopping with me tomorrow? I really need to pick up some things."

"On black Friday? Really?"

"Yep."

"You're not going to get up at 4:00 am are you?"

"No!" I snorted. "I just need to go and get some things. You have a game tomorrow night, right?"

He pulled me closer and rubbed his thumbs under my eyes. "Yes, and I think you need to go to bed. I don't think I've ever seen you with such dark circles under your eyes."

"Wow, thanks. I'm glad I look so good to you." I tried to cover up the swell of hurt his words caused with sarcasm. He hadn't said anything mean, but his words stung none-the-less.

"That's not what I meant!" He insisted.

I backed away. "Sure." This was ridiculous, I could feel my eyes prickling! "I'm just going to go to bed." I could hear the shakiness in my voice and wanted to slap myself. I _never_ had confidence issues.

I turned and headed for the stairs. "Thanks for cleaning up. I'll call you when I get up in the morning, okay?" I called, trying to inject some cheerfulness into my voice.

"Steph." I looked back and he was right behind me, following me up the steps and into my bedroom. "You know what I meant. The books say that you need to rest right now and you were up and doing things all day."

"Uh-huh." I muttered, mortified to feel a single tear trickle down my cheek. I swiped at it, but he saw it anyway.

"Babe." He hugged me tightly. "You're always beautiful. No matter what." If he thought that was going to stop me from crying, he was woefully mistaken. Apparently, hormonal me got hysterical over compliments. More than anything, I was annoyed with myself because I had thought that he didn't find me attractive and that had really hurt. I was full-on sobbing and seemed unable to stop. He held me close and maneuvered us into the arm chair in the corner of my room. Holding me tightly in his lap, just letting me weep it out. By the time the tears finally dried up, I was truly exhausted and headachy.

"I'm sorry." I whispered hoarsely.

"Don't be, your body has a lot going on right now. You need to sleep."

"I know." I was so drained, my brain was telling my legs to move so I could walk across the room and climb into bed, but they weren't getting the message. He must've sensed my reluctance and stood with me in his arms and placed me gently on the mattress. He went into my dresser and pulled out a t-shirt for me to put on and came back to me.

"Here. Lift up your arms." He said. I did as he told me and he pulled off my jersey. His hands slid around my back and he unsnapped my bra. He very carefully tugged that off as well and after a brief look at my boobs, he slid the shirt over my head and settled it in place. "Lay back." I complied and felt his fingers at the button of my jeans again. I lifted my butt and he wiggled the jeans down and off. I went to burrow under the covers, but he stopped me with a hand on my knee. "Wait." He slowly moved his hand to the hem of the shirt, lifting it past my navel. He bent and kissed my stomach, making my heart flutter again and then pressed a soft, sweet kiss to my lips, whispering, "Goodnight, Babe. I'll see you tomorrow." He backed away and was halfway to the door by the time I found my voice.

"Stay?" He seemed to debate it for a second.

"Okay." He finally agreed, disappearing into the bathroom and coming back in minutes, bare chested and clothed only in boxers.

I dragged myself out of bed and trudged into the bathroom to pee for the twentieth time today. My return to bed gave me an even greater view than the handsome man in my kitchen.

Carlos was lying on his side, facing mine, waiting for me. The blankets pushed down to his waist.

Suddenly, I didn't feel like crying anymore.

_Yeah, I definitely needed to get a handle on my hormones!_

**Ah, the emotional instability of the first trimester. That shit is rough!**

**I am so in love with this Ranger! Just, don't tell my husband. He doesn't get how anyone can feel strongly for a fictional character ;-p**

**Here's the promised teaser:**

_The woman darted a glance in my direction and then back at Angela, "I'm Angela's aunt. Sorry I'm late," she murmured softly, never really looking at me. _

"_No worries, I'm Carlos Manoso. Are you on the emergency contact sheet?" I asked her. My eyes swept over her slightly stooped form. She looked like she should have been in a hospital room she was so beaten up. "I'm kind of responsible for her right now." _

_I got up and crossed to them. My initial suspicion confirmed when she automatically backed up a step, even though I was a good four feet from her. _

**So, I was tinkering with this last week and if all goes according to the outline in my head (Ha!) this story will be heavier than anything I've ever done, with some pretty horrible situations. But, hopefully, uplifting in the end. And it's me, so you know there'll be an HEA, they're just going to have to work for it this time.**

**Let me know if you're interested in this and what you thought of the update?**

**Thanks for reading,**

**Love,**

**EA xoxo**


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